Nigerian Concord Newspaper
It is no longer a news that the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) is presently plunged into a multi-billion Naira contract scam as a result of the reckless and fraudulent activities of the executive chairman of the agency, Dr. Grace Adagba.
But the news as confirmed by Nigerian Concord Newspaper is the declaration of wars against journalists in Makurdi, the capital town of Benue state by the corrupt SUBEB chairman who has been trying to sweep the inflated, fake and illegally-awarded contracts worth over N2.6Billion under the rug.
Most of the contracts according to our independent investigation were awarded by Adagba to her friends and siblings, her personal companies, politicians and government drivers. Some of the primary schools contracts were awarded, sold and re-awarded at a higher rates at the instance of the chairman.
In her attempt to cover up the massive frauds, the SUBEB chairman with the help of three of her Board members, Prince Andy Uwouku, Mr. Paul Ebe and Dr. Joseph Jande who also benefited from the fraudulent activities had written a petition to the Benue state Commissioner of Police and the Director of DSS in the state to invite any journalist that publishes anything related to the matter for questioning and possible detention until such reporter writes an undertaking to quit the investigation.
Recall that a media influencer in the state, Leonard Ikyem was recently invited and detained by operatives of the DSS in Makurdi. He was forced to write a letter of apology to the SUBEB chairman. He was also made to write an undertaking to quit the investigation.
Apart from stealing over N2.6Billion contract funds, Dr. Adagba according to investigation by this newspaper also conered several million of Naira from the money approved to train staff on public procurement processes and the automation of staff payroll system.
As part of the cover up plans, Dr. Adagba has instructed the Cashiers of SUBEB not to provide the Board’s financial information to any investigator being it police or journalists.
When contacted over the phone, Dr. Adagba who boasted of her relationship with Governor Alia as a leverage refused to comment on the SUBEB contracts which she had awarded and still awarding for political patronage without any due process.
She also refused to explain why all the SUBEB projects were sited in one particular region of the state when contacted by our reporters in Makurdi
More details about the investigation Wil be published shortly.