The Katsina judicial commission of inquiry on missing
funds and properties has said Ibrahim Shema, a former
governor, allegedly diverted N58.5 billion from state
coffers.

Ado Ma’aji, chairman of the commission, said N58.5
billion was unaccounted for by the previous
administration.

He made this known while presenting the
commission’s report to Aminu Masari, the state
governor, on Sunday.

The amount is N3 billion higher than the initial N55.5
billion the commission had identified in its interim
report – a difference which he said was the outcome of
“painstaking and critical” verification exercise.

He said more than N17.9 billion was found to have
been diverted under the subsidy reinvestment
programme (SURE-P) and that over N14.9 billion went
unaccounted for under the state’s roads maintenance
agency (KASROMA).

He also said more than N10.1 billion was also
unaccounted for in the activities of the ministry of
environment, department of community development,
special duties, girl child education and Almajiri affairs.

He added that over N15.4 billion was also missing
from the activities of the ministry of local government
and chieftaincy affairs as well as the association of
local governments of Nigeria (ALGON).

Ma’aji said the bulk of the amount was withdrawn from
the state’s joint local account into ALGON’s account.

He cited an instance of “87 cheques of between N9
million and N10 million withdrawn in cash on the same
day”.

“89 withdrawals were made on May 28, 2015, which
was the twilight of Shema’s administration in the
state,” he said.

The governor vowed to use “all legal means” to
recover the money allegedly diverted by Shema’s
administration.

Masari said the state government was only
investigating direct withdrawals from bank accounts
belonging to ministries and parastatals.

He said that a white paper on the issue would soon be
forwarded to the state ministry of justice “for legal
consideration”.

“The amount in question is so huge that it cannot be a
mistake,” he said. “If we have such money, we would
have transformed the state and made it much better
than what it is now.

“Government will take immediate action on officials
found to be involved. We’ll look at the system and
those wrongs not connected to individuals would be
checked to forestall future occurrence.”

Reacting to the allegation, Shema said he was being
witch-hunted by his predecessor.

Speaking through Oluwabusola Olawale, one of his
aides, Shema denied committing the alleged fraud
during his tenure.

He also said he executed “meaningful projects” for the
development of the state.

TheCable