Zamfara State Government has set up a commission of enquiry to investigate former governor, Abdul’aziz Yari, on the alleged diversion of N107bn local government funds.
Zailani Bappah, spokesperson for Governor Bello Matawalle, in a statement said the figure is a total sum of money discovered to have been misappropriated between 2011 to 2019.
The statement said Yari diverted the amount through the awards of “fictitious or over-inflated” contracts.
The statement reads, “This is partly a fallout of the final report of the Ahmad Zabarma committee constituted at the wake of this administration to find out the depth of engagement by the last administration in terms of public finances and procurement, which was equally submitted to the governor at the Government House.
“For instance, the sum of N10bn was discovered to have been paid to the state government from the Federal Government by e-payment, which also disappeared via e-payment within two days without any record of it in the appropriate books.
“Another N10bn found to have been paid in two tranches was discovered to have landed in the accounts of two bureau d’ change companies in Kano, the committee disclosed. Other shoddy deals involved many contracts awarded and either not executed or partly executed.”
The committee, according to the official statement, also discovered that over 1,000 vehicles were said to have been purchased by the last administration without any trace of the vehicles.
