The current governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, has accused his predecessor, Mohammed Abubakar, spent of spending N2.3bn to buy materials for burial in the state.
The governor, who spoke through his spokesperson, Dr Ladan Salihu, in an interview with journalists in Bauchi, said the funds were spent between January and May, 2019.
According to him, over N900m was spent on the purchase of white cloth used for wrapping corpses while over N1.4bn was used to buy the wood for lacing the graves after burial.
He added that his administration has uncovered cases of corruption, venality, daylight robbery of the commonwealth of the people of the state.
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Ladan alleged, “This money which ought to have been appropriated by the state House of Assembly before expenditure, all of a sudden emanated from our treasury books. How could you imagine that a state government, within five months, that is, between January and May, 2019, spent well over N2.3bn on funeral materials, dresses for wrapping dead bodies and the woods that you lace the graveyards with.”
On whether there is proof to substantiate its claim, he said: “All these are captured in the report of the transition committee and these were gathered from documents and vouchers and payments made from our treasury books. There is the Freedom of Information Law, use it and find out for yourself from those documents,” Ladan said.
“Government will take stern measures; we will recover every kobo that has been looted or stolen by the immediate past administration and, in fact, the administration before it. Where it is established that there is a clear case of misappropriation or outright stealing of public funds, it’s an obligation, you don’t allow criminality to run roughshod on the rest of us because these are public funds,” he added.
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