The former Governor of Niger State, Aliyu Babangida has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged N5billion fraud.
Sources at the EFCC disclosed that; “We invited former Governor Aliyu to our office on Tuesday and he has been in our custody since then. He was invited following an investigation into a scam involving about N5bn. The former governor was invited by the commission and he is still in our custody.”
Besides, the incumbent Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Bello revealed that: “We instituted a financial management committee to look at all major financial transactions of the state and local governments from May 2007 to May 2015. The committee has made substantial progress and the findings are quite revealing.
“A review of the operations of some of the major bank accounts of the state and the Local Government Joint Accounts Allocation Committee over the last eight years revealed some despicable patterns such as huge cash withdrawals by government officials, private individuals and PDP officials and members.
“For example, an examination of only two bank accounts of Government House shows more than N70bn cash withdrawals by a few officials who must explain the purpose for which the withdrawals were made. The operation of the joint account was characterised by diversions and a misapplication of huge funds especially those paid for Ward Development Projects and 10km roads projects.
“For instance, out of the total sum of over N11bn paid to the accounts of Ward Development Projects, the relevant officials of the ministry of local government could not account for N2.86bn, while N613m was spent on ‘ghost’ vehicles and N675.50m was said to be lent to Ministry of Finance where the funds cannot be traced.”
