The Niger State Police Command has arrested the state chairman of the All Progressives Congress Engineer Jibrin Iman over alleged financial misappropriation and embezzlement of party fund amounting to N1 billion.
The Police arrested Iman following a petition by the party Financial Secretary, Mallam Idris Nma Mohammed.
The police had previously invited the Chairman for questioning last week before his final arrest on Tuesday evening.
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A few hours before Iman’s arrest, he had presided over the state working committee meeting of the party, where the petition of the financial secretary was discussed.
The meeting had resolved to set up a five-man committee to investigate the allegation raised by the Financial secretary.
However, the NWC remained mute on the financial misappropriation allegation levelled against the Chairman.
Instead, the committee was to focus on whether the Financial Secretary had violated any section of the APC constitution by disclosing in-house information to the public without following the internal procedure.
‘For a member to divulge information about the party without the party’s consent and even went to the police thereby reneging on the laws, is anti-party. All executive members swore an oath to abide by the party’s constitution.
‘The Financial Secretary is mischievous, we have set up a 5-man committee and he has been directed to appear before the committee,’ Imam said.
A few hours after the meeting, angry Financial Secretary flanked by the state auditor of the party, Malam Adamu Baba Mohammed told journalists that the committee was a kangaroo court.
“The meeting of today (Tuesday) by the working committee is a kangaroo meeting. I will not appear before any kangaroo panel. I am ready to prove my allegation of corruption against the Chairman.
“The records are there. It is very glaring to the whole world. I will not appear before any kangaroo panel,” he stated.
According to TheSun reports, “The financial secretary and the auditor claim that the nearly N2 billion generated by the party from various sources including donations, monthly contributions from members, revenue from the sale of nomination forms for national, state and local government elections in the runoff of 2019 general elections and the just concluded local government elections, have been illegally withdrawn from banks and diverted to private pockets.”
The duo also claimed that the Chairman allocated party vehicles donated by local government council chairmen or legislators to the wrong people or the vehicles cannot be found anywhere.
Mohammed also said he raised the petition to clear his conscience, adding that the police was called in to find out the illegal dealings.
He added that the Chairman always shouted him down whenever he brought the issue before him. “That is why I wrote the petition.”
Working on the petition, the police invited Iman on Tuesday for questioning and consequently detained him.
Thesun reported that the Chairman slept at the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the police and was still at the police station at about 11a mon Wednesday.
Confirming the incident, the State Police Commissioner of Police Alhaji Adamu Usman said the Chairman was invited for investigation based on the petition alleging corruption against him.
“We are investigating the matter and shall get to the root of it. We want to find out if there is any substance in the claims of the petitioners.
‘The Nigeria Police has the responsibility to investigate any form of a criminal complaint from any citizen of the state. That is what we are doing.
“We are handling the matter professionally to ensure that justice is done to all sides,’ Usman said.”
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