Nigerian Concord Newspaper
The federal lawmaker representing Kwande/Ushongo Federal Constituency, Hon. Terseer Ugbor has been fingered in the criminal diversion of multi million Naira relief materials that were meant for the Internally Displaced Persons in some IDPs camps in Kwande and Ushongo local governments.
This newspaper gathered that the lawmaker who recently insulted his constituents on the social media for calling him severally over the phone allegedly diverted the palliatives which were to be transported to IDPs in the two local governments to a private residence in Makurdi.
According to findings, the diverted palliatives were to be used for political purposes by Hon. Ugbor even though they were released to the IDPs in Kwande and Ushongo local governments by the National Emergency Management Agency.
The diverted palliatives were intercepted by the Benue state government and have been taken to the offices of the EFCC and ICPC in Makurdi so an investigation to prosecute the culprits could begin.
Although, the federal lawmaker claimed that it was through his intervention that the relief materials were released by NEMA and also that he spent about N5m to transport them to Benue state, a letter which NEMA wrote to him on August 23, 2024 , a copy which was obtained by Nigerian Concord Newspaper indicated that it’s the Benue state government that was authorized to bear the cost of transporting them to the points of distribution which is Kwande and Ushongo.
The NEMA letter to Ugbor also noted that the relief materials will be distributed to the affected areas with the collaboration of the Benue state government.
In his earlier reaction, Ugboh stated that he had transported the relief materials from Jos to Benue State in partnership with NEMA and had planned to offload them at a Makurdi warehouse for future distribution in Jato Aka.
However, Governor Hyacinth Alia has handed over the truck of palliatives to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) with a charge to conduct a thorough investigation over suspicions of diversion.
A statement from the Benue state government this evening confirmed that a truck conveying assorted relief materials meant for IDPs in the Kwande/Ushongo federal constituency was few days ago caught offloading palliatives at a private residence around Kilometre 2 in Makurdi.
The statement said further that checks later discovered that the palliatives, which were loaded from a National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) warehouse in Jos, had found their way to a private residence under the directives of Hon. Terseer Ugbor, the representative of the Kwande/Ushongo federal constituency.
While admitting that he was the one who ordered the truck to be impounded at Government House, the governor said he wanted to know why goods released from NEMA for distribution to IDPs in Kwande and Ushongo were being offloaded at a private residence in Makurdi.
He stated that preliminary investigations revealed that the goods were coming from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and were meant to be sponsored by the state government and lifted by the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).
“In a letter from NEMA headquarters addressed to the representative of the Kwande/Ushongo constituency, Terseer Ugbor, who actually lobbied for the materials, the agency specified that the state government should pay for the expenses of lifting the materials in Jos, and that the materials should be taken to the state by NEMA and handed over to SEMA.
“Governor Alia, who discovered that some of the trucks conveying other materials such as mattresses were still missing, directed anti-graft agencies to liaise with a three-man committee from the state and conduct a thorough investigation to uncover more facts.
“It was also discovered that the materials were to be distributed directly to the affected persons by officials from the Agency’s North Central Zonal Office in collaboration with the Benue State Emergency Management Agency team.
“Governor Alia called on the Acting Executive Secretary of SEMA, Sir James Iorpuu, officers of the EFCC, and a few others to monitor the situation and ensure that due process was followed and that the materials were distributed to the rightful people” the statement from the state government said.