Nigerian Concord Newspaper
Benue Anti Corruption Watch says that chairmen of the twenty three local government areas in Benue state have been put under surveillance by different pressure groups to ensure that the directly-paid allocations by the federal government are used judiciously.
According to the president of the EFCC-affliated anti corruption group, Barrister John Tion Esq, the Benue State Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, is also under surveillance.
Speaking in a press statement issues to journalists in Makurdi this morning, Barrister John Tion Esq said the move was orchestrated by handlers of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume in order to nail the governor of the state, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia.
He pressed further that this is part of the leadership tussle between Governor Alia and Senator George Akume.
Tion said that the SGF’s handlers in conjunction with a former head of the Bureau who is now a senator, Titus Zam PhD has contacted some administrative heads across the twenty three local government areas as well as the BLGCA headed by Hon. Dennis Akura to provide false documents of financial transactions that will link the governor to unjust remittance by the local government chairmen.
Recall that one of the pressure groups, the Defender of Democracy which is being funded by some Abuja-based Benue power brokers had recently written a petition against the governor and his Special Adviser in the Bureau for allegedly diverting local government funds running to billions of Naira.
During investigation, the group withdrew the petition from the EFCC and apologized for pinning down a false accusation against the Benue state government.
But in his press statement, president of Benue Anti Corruption Watch, John Tion Esq said that the same Defender of Democracy being sponsored by Akume’s men has been tasked to prepare a “fictitious” report that Bureau is secretly collecting a whooping N25m from each of the twenty three local government chairmen on behalf of the governor monthly.
Tion wondered why the SGF is using his revered office to plot the downfall of his state governor even “when he has not committed any crime”
According to him, checks indicated that local government funds are no longer being handled by the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs as a result of the local government autonomy.
Tion said that Governor Alia was one of the few governors that clamored for a full autonomy for local governments across the country immediately he was sworn-in as governor of Benue state.
“Why will the SGF now believe that Governor Alia who was in support of the autonomy will go behind to ask the Bureau to be collecting N25m for him from each local government chairman every month.
“We are now calling on the SGF as our leader and father to explain why he sent spies to the twenty three local government as well as the Bureau when there is no proof that the governor has asked his Adviser to deny local governments of their funds.
“We also urged the governor to ask all the administrative heads of all the local governments to explain why they allowed them to be used to destroy his administration ” he said..