Shortly after Malam Isa Yuguda was sworn-in as the Governor of Bauchi State on May 29, 2007, he promised to take the state to the desired height. Though some politicians usually make all kinds of promises and make no effort to fulfill them, anybody who witnessed what transpired in Bauchi State in 2007 will believe that Yuguda will not abandon his promises largely because of the confidence the people of the state had on him.
Earlier when some members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) bragged that it will be easier for a camel to pass through the needle's eye than for Yuguda to become the governor of the state, the people of Bauchi State had sympathy for him and sacrificed their lives to vote him into power in the April 2007 general elections. In spite of the power of incumbency and alleged rigging machinery of PDP, Yuguda still emerged victoriously as the governor of the state under the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).The question of whether Governor Yuguda will fulfill his promises or not did not immediately arise just because of some certain factors including his background and all the odds he encountered.
Malam Isa Yuguda was a one time Managing Director of Inland Bank, the bank which consolidated with others to form Finbank Plc. Secondly, his emergency as the governor of the state amidst all odds made many not to doubt his capability of moving the state forward.
The hope and confidence many people within and outside Bauchi State had on Yuguda was truncated just because of material gains. A petition written against Isa Yuguda by the concerned citizens of the state to the Chairmen of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as to the Speaker, Bauchi State House of Assembly revealed that the governor has a long way to go when it comes to the issue of development and repositioning of Bauchi State.
Governor Yuguda, a day after he was sworn-in as Governor of Bauchi State, was unilaterally alleged to have ordered the transfer of the state's main account from Guarantee Trust Bank to Finbank plc. According to the petition, the key government functionaries handling the financial matters in the state are from Finbank. Some of these top government functionaries include the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), the sacked commissioner of finance and the present one, among others.
In the petition titled “How Finbank and Isa Yuguda are looting Bauchi State: Who will save Bauchi State?” chronicled financial transactions between the state government and Finbank Plc in 6 months covering September 2008 to February 2009. This petition revealed the financial mismanagement of Governor Yuguda, who allegedly borrowed about N40 billion from Finbank Plc Bauchi State branch without terms of payment or approval of the Bauchi State House of Assembly.
Between November 2008 and January 2009, Finbank allegedly disbursed seven credits of N39.1 billion into the state main account. The credits are N277m and N9.047bn on November 1 and 14, 2008 respectively. Others include N9.529bn, N9.629bn, N9.902bn and N795m disbursed on 14th, 19th, 21st, and 30th January 2009 respectively. The petitioners lamented that search into the proceedings of the State House of Assembly shows that the body was never intimated on these loans. “They are therefore illegal by law. Their acquisition by the government is ultra vires. Not only is the governor violating the rules governing his office in these transactions, Finbank is directly putting the deposits and shares of thousands of Nigerians at risk. The bank has committed a crime which must be investigated and stopped immediately before irreparable damage is done to the savings of Nigerians,” the petitioners affirmed.
According to the petitioners, the claim that the loans have been budgeted for in 2008 is not true from many perspectives. They affirmed that “budgetary provisions do not automatically accord the governor with the right to commit the state at whim. Banks do not accept budgetary provisions as sufficient instruments for granting loans. They require approvals of the state and the State House of Assembly and a comprehensive agreement between the bank and government. This is why when the governor sought N10bn long term loan from the same Finbank, his agents took the pain of begging the bank in a letter dated 25 February, 2008 for a one week deferral of submission of loan agreement, lien and set off agreement and House of Assembly resolution,” the petitioners maintained.
The concerned citizens of Bauchi State wonder why Governor Yuguda did not seek the House's approval in the subsequent loans. “Even going by the budgetary provisions, 2009 budget was not approved when the governor allegedly took separate loans including N9.52bn, N9.629bn, N9.902bn and N795m in the month of January,” according to the petition.
The N10bn long term loan of February 2008 was allegedly granted and consumed before the House of Assembly's approval came in late March 2008. “As for people of Bauchi State, the damage has already been done which will take years to repair. The N39.18bn in question was incurred in only three months. This did not include other similar loans collected during the preceding eighteen months,” the petitioners lamented.
The governor is allegedly making plan to source another N40bn debt from the Capital Market through Finbank. It is not clear whether this amount of money is to cover the N39.18bn he allegedly borrowed from Finbank or is meant for another purpose. The source disclosed that if another governor will emerge today as Yugudu's successor he can decide not to pay a kobo of the balance because the loans themselves are null and void thereby making Finbank to put its depositors in danger. Though a close examination of the loans shows that there was dubious deals in their transactions as loan is taken to settle another which was previously transacted, from the seven transactions alone Bauchi State Government still owed Finbank N18.6bn as at the end of February, 2009, according to the submissions of the petitioners.
It will surprise many that Isa Yuguda who has been a managing director of a bank will allow his state to be pushed into financial crisis. The petition against Yuguda shows he is having difficulty in the payment of workers salaries as well as payment for contractors and settlement of debts from its monthly revenue. In the period under review, September 2008 to February 2009, the state has allegedly repaid a total of N2.378, 426,348.48 to Finland Plc. This according to the petitioners is certainly in disregard to the declining fortunes of the state in view of how badly the global financial downtown is hitting Nigerian revenues.
It is alleged that despite the Finbank credit disbursements totaling N39.18bn the “state's main account was overdrawn with N1, 122,284,135.49 as at February 27, 2009. The petition shows that the monstrous February theft was done in the same month the governor reduced the salaries of political office holders by 'one-third' unilaterally. Yuguda, instead of paying attention to illegal transactions, allegedly announced his intention to lay off workers, or reduce wages of civil servants or both.
The petitioners wonder why Finbank allowed withdrawals of N10m, N50m, N100m, 200m and 800m from government bank accounts in cash. The Bauchi State Government operates three accounts namely, the state's sub-treasury, main government account and the SSG account. Though amount less than N1m from the SSG's account and those that are less than N5m from the Sub-treasury are excluded from the analysis according to the petitioners, in six months under review N5.242bn was withdrawn from the sub-treasury as well as N3.53bn and N329m from the SSG office and Government House account respectively. The amount withdrawn at this period is N9.1bn in February alone, the sub-treasury allegedly withdrawn for clandestine reasons, N1.11bn while the total revenue of the state government was just N1.49BN.
The frequency of the withdrawals according to the petition raises question. The withdrawals were alleged to be done more than once in a day. “Consider the three amounts withdrawn on 12th February 2009 from the sub-treasury account: N82, 833,100.00 was first withdrawn in cash, N828, 333.00 was later withdrawn in cash, and N10, 000,000 was withdrawn in cash again,” the petition said. “On the same day, 25 September 2008, N33, 998,365.00, N27, 485,000.00 and N27, 000,000.00 were withdrawn. On 4th September 2008 such cash withdrawal from the sub-treasury account of N50,265,000.00; N958,000.00, N64,604,133.00, N32,160,000.00, N532,800.00 and N955,750.00 were made. Who were the beneficiaries of these payments? Were they the contractors who said 'We do not need chegues, please pay us in cash.' Is there any contractor in his right senses that will request the treasury to pay him N828m in cash in stead of cheque? Certainly none,” the petitioners said.
According to the petition, the balance sheet of SSG's account, are correctly disbursed in cheques. The petitioners said “the usual explanation is to claim that such withdrawal made were for security purposes.” The petition alleged that Yuguda administration in Bauchi State used N9bn as security vote in six months at a time he is interrogating his predecessor for using N5bn for eight years. The petitioners wonder why any bank could allow a withdrawal of N828m in cash in a single transaction.
It is alleged that fraud in payment for debts is on the increase and will eventually ground the state to a complete halt. The petitioners alleged that “FinBank claimed N70m and N2.8bn in September 2008, N568m in October 2008, N538m in November 2008, N280m in December 2008, N206m in January 2009, and N538m in February 2009.”
The petitioners prayed that the anti corruption bodies and Bauchi State House of Assembly should immediately intervene and investigate the transaction of the state government for the entire period between 29 May 2007 and February 2009. Parts of the petition read “we plead with your body to immediately intervene in the following areas: investigate the transaction of the state government for the entire period between 29 May 2007 and February 2009. Find out further, who are the real beneficiaries of these loots apart from the governor and his SSG. Alert the CBN and NDIC on your preliminary findings to forestall the whole collapse of FinBank and the state.”
The petitioners also called on these bodies to stop the state government from acquiring more loans as the governor has made up his mind to source about N40bn from the capital market through FinBank. The petitioners lament “Had the ICPC treated with dispatch similar petitions submitted to it months ago, the state would have been saved from the N39.1bn loan scandal. It would have also been able to save the theft of N9bn cash from its coffers. The state government was not warned or even stopped from these fraudulent practices. Neither has the EFCC, which would have learnt about the transactions through its financial intelligence unit, done anything.”
According to the petitioners, these practices which were condemned by the people of Bauchi State under Mu'azu administration have continued in more monstrous manner under Yuguda. The House of Assembly is completely unaware of the transactions according to the petition. “The Bauchi State House of Assembly is completely unaware of the transactions, to our surprise. We wonder what its committee on finance has been doing for the past six months.” The petitioners affirmed that if nothing is done to address this situation Yuguda will continue to plunder the resources of Bauchi State with FinBank falling deeper into the abyss of bankruptcy.
Desert Herald also leant that the defection of Isa Yuguda from All Nigeria People's Party recently amidst protests from people within and outside Bauchi State was not unconnected with the governor's ambition to succeed President Umaru Musa Yar'adua come 2011. Desert Herald investigation reveals that the governor is nursing ambition to become the next President of the country should Yar'adua throw in the towel as the President of the country on the account of his health condition.
Watch out for the untold story of the scandal for the supply of Motor vehicles for Yankari Transport Company and how the Chairman of Bauchi state Fertilizer Company, Alhaji Sanusi Maijamis, secured a fraudulent I.O.U of N25 Million from the Company to buy a private property in Abuja. These and many more only in your insightful Desert Herald.

Source: http://www.desertherald.com/cover.htm#cover2

See how dem dey loot money like say person dey pluck am from tree, yet these same people will turn around and advise the FG to sacrifice 20 million NDeltans to pave way for more billions.