Former officials of the Zamfara State government have opened up on the reported disappearance of N70 billion from the state’s treasury.
In a Press Conference held in Abuja, the former government officials including Rabiu Garba, a former commissioner of finance and economic planning, and Ibrahim Dosara, ex-commissioner of information,
called for the removal of Governor Dauda Lawal from his position in Zamfara State.
According to them, Governor Lawal has been involved in unapproved expenditures outside the state assembly’s budgetary authorisation.
There were also allegations that Governor Lawal falsely accused Bello Matawalle, the former governor of the state, of diverting the funds to deflect attention from his misconduct.
Calling for Lawal’s impeachment and urging the state assembly to scrutinize his governance practices, Garba said: “We are calling on the state house of assembly to impeach the governor for spending outside the budget of the state.
“He awarded contract that is not in the budget. A budget primarily is a source document where works and services of government are going to be rendered. A budget is an act of the state assembly that the governor violated.
“There was no virement to support the contracts that were awarded. There was no evidence that the virement had been received by the State House of Assembly and even, if there is, the state assembly had not attended to that issue…”
Further, Dosara noted that the EFCC suspended its investigations into Matawalle after discovering his innocence.
He said: “We left the state better than it is today. The state is exposed to bandits and as things are now, the state capital, Guasau, is not spared.”
According to Garba, the allegations of missing funds are merely Governor Lawal’s desperate efforts to incriminate Matawalle.
Recall that earlier this year, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigated Matawalle for alleged fund diversion involving contractors and proxies who received payments for never-completed projects.
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