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… Says I have approval from relevant authorities to execute the contracts
From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The suspended Chairman of Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State Hon.Nasara Rabo appears unperturbed about the multi million naira contract allegations leveled against him, saying his hands are clean.
Rabo said he got approval from relevant authorities for all the contracts he executed while in office as the LGA boss.
He told our Correspondent, “I have the approval from relevant authorities of all the projects I executed during the period under review. I have all the documents. You can visit the local government secretariat and get the clearance of all the projects we executed. I have awarded over 100 projects in the local government area. There was direct labour headed by the Director of works. It is not binding on me to visit all projects on site as the local government Chairman”. Rabo said with air of confidence.
The embattled Chairman is accused, among other things, of failure to deduct retention fees contrary to Financial Memorandum and carrying out direct labour above approval limit and without clearance in the sum of N72m without proper documentation and maintenance of projects’ financial records.
He was also accused of ecological contract scam to the tune of N80 million.
Rabo was suspended pending the outcome of the investigation by a Committee of the Kaduna State Assembly.
His suspension was precipitated by a damning report from the office of the Kaduna State Auditor General for Local Governments.
The Kagarko Local Government Area Auditor had earlier forwarded to the State Auditor General a report which accused the Council Chairman of outrageous and untimely review of contracts sum and payment within two months.
On 16th and 17th October, a team of investigators from the State Ministry for Local Government Affairs visited the local government secretariat to investigate sundry allegations against the Chairman.
On 18th October, another 15-man Committee of the Kaduna State House of Assembly also visited to investigate similar allegations.
Sources at the State Auditor General’s office and Kagarko LGA disclosed that another team from the State Auditor General will be visiting Kagarko on the same mission.
The 11th September 2023 Auditor General’s letter to the Chairman which was obtained by our Correspondent was for the period from January 2022 to June 2023. The letter reads in part: “I am in receipt of aforementioned report from the Area Auditor of your Local Government for the period stated above.
The following are the observations raised in that report; outrageous and untimely review of contract sum and paid within two months of award. Out of the contracts awarded in the period mentioned above, ten (10) of them, (list here attached) awarded on the date of 18/03/2022 were reviewed by N86,221,618.26 and paid on 18/05/2022 in other words, you inflated the contract by N86,221,618.26 and whole contract sum was paid without due observance to financial rules and regulations such as deduction of retention money. Lack of deduction of retention money is an outright violation of financial memoranda (F.M 1724),” the letter stated.
“You embarked on direct labour to the tune of N80,329,000.00 without proper documentation and maintenance of projects financial records.
The Auditors had accused the suspended Chairman of committing serious financial irregularities and fraudulent activities and the same letter directed Nasara Rabo to refund the sum of N86,221,618.26 being the contract inflation awarded and paid within a period of two months”.
Rabo was also directed to submit to the office of the Auditor General advance/deposit ledger for the year 2022 and payment vouchers and all receipts of the earlier mentioned direct labour which amounted to N80,329,000.00 along with the reason (s) that necessitated his embarking on the direct labour.
Our Correspondent reliably gathered that most local government Chairmen use direct labour as a veritable tool to defraud unsuspecting government at grassroots.
Asked to comment on one of the allegations that he bought a vehicle worth N12 million for Dnata Gbagyi, His Royal Highness, Mr. Bitrus James, the suspended Council Chairman said, “You asked me this question and I told you that I do not have the power to buy a first class, second class or third class traditional ruler a car. I have no such approval, but we normally give support to all the traditional rulers within the Council and we have four chiefdoms. Anything we do for Mr. A, we also do for Mr. B and so on as a support. We have supported that of Dnata, Jere, Kagarko and Ere Koro.”
Reminded that the approval of the F&GPC of 30th March was specifically mentioned for the Dnata Chiefdom, Rabo said, “I have not seen that clearance, but what I know is that it is a support to Dnata Chiefdom. That is the one I know and I think I have the record in my domain. I didn’t buy the car for the Dnata, he can tell you who bought the car. We told him that we cannot buy him a car but should he has somebody who will buy the car for him and we shall give support. He brought someone and said this person will buy the car for him and we gave him the support.”
Asked how much money the Council gave the royal father as a support, Rabo asked, “What did you see on the approval?: Our Correspondent told him he saw N12m based on the available document, but Rabo replied, saying, “No, No, No, No! the N12 million was not for him alone. The support also goes for all the chiefdoms”
