EFCC SHOULD PROBE BILLIONS OF NAIRA STREET FENCING IN  SOKOTO

The People’s Democratic Party in Sokoto State wishes to express deep sadness over the current situation, in which Sokoto State is catching the attention of the entire nation for reasons that have never been as negative as during the present  APC administration of Ahmed Aliyu.

Governor Ahmed is sustaining the negative tempo by spending an outrageous billions on the wire fencing of streets in Sokoto Metropolis. This is ironically in one of the states that are hardest hit by the effects of the bad economic policies of the APC government at federal level.

We find it regrettable that under Ahmed Aliyu, Sokoto State is right now,  proving to be the pace-setter in governmental financial recklessness. The people have not gotten over the debacle of the Governor’s spending of N1.2  billion on the repair of 25 boreholes, the rationale for which he is still struggling to explain to the entire nation. That is against the unfolding scandal of the  Governor’s wife trailing the media space for the infamy of partaking in a reckless birthday Dollar spray, in spite of the dire economic conditions of the masses of her state.

The PDP, shares the indignation of the masses of Sokoto State over the fact that rather than addressing this squandermania, the embattled governor is falling back on his usual desperate but feeble efforts to deflect public anger from his administration through the shadow-chasing ploy of making false allegations against his predecessor, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. In a story in the Daily Trust of September 17, 2024, Ahmed Aliyu’s regime is reported to have ordered a probe by its organ of inquisition in the form of a Commission of Inquiry, of an alleged sales of the state government’s shares worth N16 billion by the previous government.

Our party is however bold to assert that Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and his entire cabinet have never shied away from subjecting themselves to any investigation of their tenure in the government of Sokoto State. The former governor, members of his executive council and senior officials have willingly appeared before the Commission of Inquiry, whenever summoned, even though no tangible progress has been made in proving the trumped-up allegations of wrongdoing against them both individually and collectively.

Consequently, all officials of the former government are ready and willing to report to the Commission to lay the facts bare on the orchestrated and attention-diverting matter of the state’s shares in question. Aminu Waziri  Tambuwal ran the most accountable and transparent government in the history of Sokoto State, a fact acknowledged by global assessment agencies and thus none of its operatives will be found to evade lawful inquiry.

The reverse is, however, proving to be the case with the current administration of Ahmed Aliyu, whose expenditure profile is the most controversial and procurement standards the most scandalous in the history of leadership in Sokoto State.

The current government in Sokoto has, not even halfway through its tenure,  recorded milestones in mindless and suspicious misappropriation of public funds. Apart from the N1.2 billion for the repair 25 boreholes racket and billions of naira expenditure on the erection of wire fences on the streets of Sokoto  Metropolis, close to a billion Naira has been allocated to the installation of streetlights in the state capital, even though the poles were old and repainted. Ahmed  Aliyu’s spending spree includes the allocation of N1.2 billion on the repair of five roundabouts in Sokoto Metropolis and another over N500 million to erect archways on all streets leading to the Government House.

Our party deems as the most unfortunate, aspect of these outrageous and white elephant projects, their execution in total defiance of due process and the best practices of procurement. Firstly, none of the project contracts was awarded with the requisite approval of the State Executive Council or the call for tender. The works are carried out by faceless contractors, who are selected by patronage and according to the whims of the controllers of government.

The PDP notes that Ahmed Aliyu’s mindless squandering of Sokoto State’s finances is also causing concern and drawing opposition from within his own political party, the APC, as discontent is fast spreading through the ranks of the party. The Governor is currently under a two-week deadline issued by the APC  member of the House of Representatives for Gudu Tangaza Constituency, Sani  Yakubu, to account for the over N200 billion federal allocations to local governments in the state.

There is, however, not much to account for Ahmed Aliyu’s one-and-a-half years regime. All his cosmetic projects are concentrated in the state capital and virtually confined within the vicinity of the Government House and GRA. The rural areas, as Sani Yakubu observed, are totally neglected, without any development project carried out with their huge allocated funds.

The current government in Sokoto State is without doubt, the most financially irresponsible administration in the state’s entire history of governance, whether military or civilian and should therefore be probed by the relevant agencies. Our party is, therefore, demanding that the EFCC and ICPC should investigate the financial practices of Ahmed Aliyu’s administration.

We are particularly calling on the anti-graft agencies to discharge their statutory obligation by immediately commencing the probe of the N30 billion expenditure on the wire fencing of streets in the state capital in terms of cost and procedural propriety. This, our party feels, is in the interest of fairness and justice to the masses of Sokoto State and Nigeria at large.

SIGNED: 

Hassan Sahabi Sanyinnawal,

Publicity Secretary,

PDP Sokoto State