Ex-Kwara governor: “Allegations of N11.9 billion in theft are absurd.”

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

The claim that his administration stole N11.9 billion was deemed “preposterous, naive, unspecific, and generally untrue” by former Kwara state governor AbdulFatah Ahmed.

According to a forensic audit report created by the current governor, AbdulRaman Abdulrazaq, between 2011 and 2019, around N11.9 billion in public funds were embezzled from the state’s treasury without having any legitimate connection to any projects or programs.

Other astounding disclosures of alleged mismanagement throughout the time period were also made in the report.

The audit further claimed that in February 2019, only one month before the general election, N2 billion in cash withdrawals that were unrelated to any projects or official expenses were made over the course of eight days.

Wahab Oba, the former governor’s communications aide, claimed in a statement that “every expenditure during the period under scrutiny was duly appropriated and followed due process.” If there were violations as claimed, there are established processes for resolving the situation.

“The accounts have been thoroughly audited and verified by numerous auditing bodies since we left office more than three years ago. Any concerns about the legality or otherwise of the expenditure at this point, six months before the election, are afterthoughts and politically driven.

“This Government should account for more over N.3 trillion accruing to it in the last three years without equivalent infrastructural development, rather than hunt for what is not lost or begin a political vendetta. In Kwara State’s history, there has never been a government with a debt profile like this one. As of right now, Kwara State is paying interest on a variety of largely unaccounted-for debts totaling no less than N1.3 billion per month.

In a recent guided discussion with his media agents, Governor AbdulRazak revealed that N17 billion of the N27 billion bond is “sitting in a bank” as the state continues to pay interest on it. This begs a lot of questions about why the bond was initially obtained.

When was the last time the state executive council met to approve various contracts and other expenditures? The governor ought to answer for Kwarans.

The moment of truth has arrived.