The Executive Governor of Benue StateSamuel Ortom has been linked to N22 billion fraud by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
The commission is also investigating the 22 members of the State House of Assembly who were locked out by the Nigerian Police on Monday to enable to remaining eight members serve the governor with impeachment notice.
The EFCC is investigating the members for allegedly diverting N375m which was meant for the procurement of vehicles that would have been used for oversight functions.
The investigation which started in 2016 showed that between June 30, 2015 and March 2018, the governor withdrew up to N21.3bn from government accounts: Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank of Nigeria and the United Bank of Africa (UBA)
EFCC report indicated that the governor stated on a paper that he had paid N19bn to security agencies who were deployed to halt the incessant killings in the state but the governor only paid N3bn and 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 period, the accounts were credited with N19, 468, 951, 590 from the Benue State allocation.”
The Commission accused one Oliver Ntom who was said to have withdrawn the 19bn from the Bureau of Internal Affair and Special Services’ bank account, instructed by the Permanent Secretary, Boniface Nyaako.
The anti-graft agency disclosed that the money which was meant for security votes was diverted and the memo written in regards to the withdrawal was destroyed afterwards.
The report adds, “Investigations revealed that N19bn was withdrawn by one Oliver Ntom, a cashier.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 get 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.”
EFCC also indicted and invited a member of one of the security outfits in Benue State, John Bako who allegedly withdrew N28m and a cashier from the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affair who withdrew N1.3bn from Fidelity Bank with the account number 5030058730.
The Commission added, “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.”
Also invited for questioning are the accused 21 out of the 30 lawmakers accused of diverting N375m meant for procurement of vehicles in 2016.
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.”
