The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has linked
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State to an alleged fraud to the tune of N22bn.
This is just as the EFCC revealed that 21 members of the
Benue State House of Assembly are under investigation for allegedly diverting
N375m meant for the procurement of vehicles that would be used for oversight
functions.
The allegations are contained in a report of an
investigation which began in 2016 but was made available to our correspondent
on Monday.
According to the report, the governor, between June 30, 2015
and March 2018, ordered the withdrawal of N21.3bn from four government’s
accounts in Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank of Nigeria and the United Bank for
Africa.
On paper, about N19bn out of the money was said to be meant
for the payment of six security agencies that had been deployed in the state to
address the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers.
However, the EFCC stated that less than N3bn of the money
was paid to the security agencies while the remainder could not be accounted
for.
The report reads in part, “We investigated four bank
accounts belonging to two Benue State Government’s agencies. The first agency
is the Benue State Government House which has an account in UBA with number
1017348051 and another account in GTB with number 0027952907. These accounts
received N1, 916, 635, 206 from the state’s allocation between June 30, 2015
and March 2018.
“The second government agency is the Bureau of Internal
Affairs and Special Services. The agency has an account with UBA with number
1007540119 and a First Bank account with number 2023788057. Between the same periods,
the accounts were credited with N19, 468, 951, 590 from the Benue State
allocation.”
The anti-graft agency said one person identified as Oliver
Ntom, withdrew over N19bn from the account of the Bureau of Internal Affairs
and Special Services based on the instructions of the Permanent Secretary,
Boniface Nyaakor.
The money, which was allegedly withdrawn under the pretext
of security votes, was said to have been diverted while the memos written in
respect of the withdrawal were destroyed.
The report adds, “Investigations revealed that N19bn was
withdrawn by one Oliver Ntom, a cashier. Sometimes, in a day, he would withdraw
as high as N500m by cashing several cheques worth N10m each.
“The permanent secretary upon interrogation said anytime
security agencies requested funds, he would approach Governor Ortom who would
ask him to write a memo to that effect. The permanent secretary would write and
the governor would approve the money.
“The permanent secretary said the funds are usually given to
six security agencies. He said the highest that any security agency gets is
N10m a month while the least any of the agencies gets is N5m a month.
“He said after the money has been released, the governor
usually orders that the memo be torn to pieces. It is important to note that if
a total of N60m is given to all the security agencies collectively every month
as claimed by the permanent secretary, it cannot amount to half of N19bn in
three years.”
The commission said the funds being spent were not in the
budget of the Benue State Government.
It further accused the governor of failing to pay salaries
despite withdrawing N1.328bn from the Joint State Local Government Account in
Fidelity Bank with number 5030058730.
The report adds, “Investigations revealed that one John
Bako, a member of one of the security outfits in Benue, withdrew N28m while one
Andooi Festus, believed to be a cashier from the Bureau of Local Government and
Chieftaincy Affairs withdrew N1.3bn. They have been invited.”
Meanwhile, the EFCC has invited 21 out of the 30 lawmakers
in the Benue State House of Assembly for allegedly diverting part of the N375m
meant for the procurement of vehicles in 2016.
According to the anti-graft agency, the Benue State
Government had in 2016 awarded a contract worth N417m (N375m after tax) to Mia-Three
Nigeria Limited to procure 30 Prado TXL vehicles for the lawmakers.
However, only eight members received the vehicles while the
others diverted the funds.
The report adds, “About 21 of the lawmakers are under probe.
However, 25 of the lawmakers have returned all the money they received which
adds up to N245m. Four others have failed to return the remaining sum of N31m.”
Attempts to get a reaction from Ortom were unsuccessful.
Calls to the mobile of his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Terver Akase, were
neither picked nor returned.
A response to a text message sent to him on the subject was
still being expected as of the time of filing this report at 7.30pm.
