Kogi state except Mr. Ablaka, the Igalemela Local Government Director are currently in detention at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for given the Council fund to Mr. Yahaya Bello, the Kogi state Governor. WAR had reported how the state Governor collected N630 million from Local Government funds making it impossible for them to pay salaries. Some of the LG executives that spoke to media confirmed the development and said some of the Directors have deserted their residence while some have refused to pick calls made to their phones.
A staff in the Igalamela Local Government Secretariat who spoke to WAR in a telephone conversation said all the Directors of the Local Governments in the state were invited by the EFCC to Abuja since Friday to explain their role in the council funds sent to them by the Federal Government. Not wanted his name to be mentioned, another staff in the secretariat told our reporter that there is tension in the secretariat as workers are angry over the council authority not paying their salaries when the Federal Government has indeed released money for their payment.
It was reported earlier this month reported how Bello summoned all the state Local Government Directors and Sole Administrators for a meeting at Lokoja, Kogi state capital over monies paid to the councils by the Federal Government. Mr. Onoja who gave only his first name via a telephone that the Governor summoned the Directors and Sole Administrators to the government house in a bid to force them to hand over the monies paid to the councils by the federal government to the state government. He said they have been in a meeting with the Governor at government house since Tuesday and are not likely to agree to release the fund over to them. He confirmed that, the Governor has asked them not to pay salaries and carry out any project until when they are ready to go by his own instruction and directives how the money will be spent. At the end of the meeting, Bello asked each of Local Government Directors to bring N30 million each from the council account.
A demand the Directors have asked him to get an approval letter from Mr. Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigeria President authorising them to give him N30 million from the council account. Another source told WAR that they are afraid of going to jail and aren’t ready to be picked up by the Nigeria anti-corruption agency, Economic Crimes and Financial Corruption (EFCC). A resistance they could not hold on to and have since been forced to give N30, million each to the state government. WAR could not immediately reach out to Kogi state Governor as Mr. Fanwo Kingsley, the Director Media and Publicity to the Governor, did not respond to question sent to him regarding the issue.
Credit: West Africa Report