Adamawa House Drill Commissioners, ….Executive Says It is Witch Hunting
Suleiman Bello
Nyako’s administration may now be under scrutiny as the state House of Assembly yesterday grilled three Commissioners of the government
The State Commissioner of Police John Abakasanga, NigerianEcho learnt made the appearance of the three commissioners under Nyako possible as he led them to the House.
The state House of Assembly according to information had earlier declared four members of the state Excos wanted when they refused to appear before the legislators to answer some charges bordering on financial impropriety brought against them.
The three Commissioners that appeared yesterday are: Barrister Lilian Stephen of Ministry of Health; Mrs Lucy Ishaku of Ministry of Agriculture and Commissioner in-charge of Commerce, Alhaji Ibrahim Gorko.
Commissioner for Health, Barr. Stephen was accused of having two budgetary sub-heads of N220m and N38m for MDG in the 2013 budget in her ministry, which were all paid and she agreed to N38m sub-head.
The commissioner was scolded when she disclose that her ministry sponsored the first lady, on a trip to France with N8million as the speaker asked whether the said first lady was a director in the ministry to be entitled to such fund.
The speaker, Hon. Ahmad Umar Fintr then warned the commissioner to stop further extravagance with government funds, adding that billions of Naira have been stolen under her watch.
Defending her ministry extra budgetary expenditures, Barr. Stephen said she had earlier made provision to cater for the extra expenditure incurred, but the House said it was illegal as it requirements could only be dispensed by the house.
The commissioner was also accused of not knowing what was happening in her ministry, saying that billions of tax payers’ money were being siphoned under her watch and she kept appending her signatures on them.
The Commissioner of Commerce and Industry, Alhaji Ibrahim Gorko who apologised for not honouring the House invitation on time due to his outside of u the state engagement told the House that out of the N2b earmarked for the sale of Jimeta Ultra Modern Market, his ministry only realized about N100m and attributed the failure to the activities of a cartel who were opposed to the government drive coupled with the imposition of Emergency Rule in the state.
He disclosed further before the legislators that the Ministry operates five bank accounts where the proceeds of the sales of the shops at the market are lodged.
The commissioner also dispelled rumors that he does physically withdraw moneys from the ministry’s accounts saying only statutory bodies have the mandate to do so.
The house expressed serious disappointment about the situation in the ministry, accused it of tendering inconsistent financial statements along with the ministry of finance.
The speaker, Hon. Fintri said that he suspected a foul play behind the double standard displayed by the ministry and asked the commissioner to furnish the house with one year transactions of all accounts of the ministry.
He was furious about the commissioner earlier submission that he did not collect rents at the Jimeta Ultra modern market as the various memos the commissioner sent to the governor revealed that the ministry charges rents from shop owners.
In a swift response to the House legitimate action, Adamawa state Government debunked it saying that it was meant to witch-hunt the state government.
In a Press Release signed by the government spokesperson, Mallam Ahmad Sajoh, the state government said the claim that the Commissioners were arrested by the police was false, malicious and a calculated attempt to ridicule the Government and embarrass the persons concerned.
It reads: “The attention of Adamawa State Government has been drawn to some unnecessary and unwarranted drama that took place on the floor of the House of Assembly today 16th of June, 2014 during which a number of Hon. Commissioners were supposedly presented to the House by the Police.
“It was most unfortunate and smirks of blackmail for both the House and the Police to have acted the way they did.
“The claim that the Commissioners were arrested by the police was false, malicious and a calculated attempt to ridicule the Government and embarrass the persons concerned.
“For the record, what happened was that the said Commissioners were invited by the House of Assembly not as individuals but as officers of the Government of Adamawa State.
“The invitation letters addressed them as Hon. Commissioners and not in their personal names. The invitation letters were earlier delivered to their offices by 9.30 am inviting them to appear by 10.00 am the same day 12th June. 2014.
“This was indeed very regrettable and unfortunate. They sent their Permanent Secretaries to represent them on the scheduled dates, because they were not in the State.
“The House of Assembly rejected the Permanent Secretaries but failed to abide by the legal fact that their representation was a sufficient excuse under section 128(1)d of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, which states; that the House of Assembly shall:(d)Issue a warrant to compel the attendance of any person who, after having been summoned to attend, fails, refuses or neglects to do so and does not excuse such failure, refusal or neglect.
“It is an affront on natural justice for a person who sends a representative to be deemed to have refused or neglected a summons.
“The drama concerning the purported arrest was also a mere blackmail since none of the officers summoned was shown an arrest warrant by the police nor picked from their homes or offices.
They all went to the House on their own and were waylaid by the leadership of the House who call in the police to purportedly present them to the House as if they were common criminals.
“This is quite unfortunate and regrettable. The whole process adopted is not in tandem with the provision of section 128 of the Constitution and violated the fundamental rights of the officers concerned. What transpired amounted to mere harassment and intimidation of the said Commissioners.