Jigawa governor, Badaru Abubakar, in trouble as Assembly begins probe

The cordial relationship between the Jigawa State House of Assembly and the state governor, Badaru Abubakar, has turned sour, with the legislators launching probe over the governor’s violation of 2017 Appropriation Act, sale of government property, among others.

The Assembly on Tuesday also tasked a panel to unravel the people behind the planned sale of landed government properties in Lagos, which they described as “illegal.”

The lawmakers were also angry at the “surfacing of some projects at local governments” without their knowledge or recourse to budgetary provisions.

The lawmakers therefore resolved to question the governor on the rationale behind expenditures for the “illegal procurement of school furniture,” being carried out in some local governments.

The legislators took turns to argue on the floor and agreed that the expenditure, being carried out by some council chairmen under the directive of the governor were not captured in the 2017 budget.

The house wondered where the state drew the fund for the projects.

Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, who represents Dutse Constituency on the APC platform, Musa Sule, raised the motion, praying the house to constitute a panel to investigate the matter.

Mr Sule also described the act as a “flagrant abuse of the law”, which, he said, must be thoroughly investigated.

He asked the house to take a decisive action against any violator. “We will leave no stone unturned on this matter,” he assured.

The motion was seconded by a member representing Kiyawa Constituency, Ado Andaza‎, PDP.

Mr Andaza said local government councils have no constitutional backing to embark on any capital projects within primary schools aside payments of salaries.

After the unanimous passage of the motion, the speaker directed the committee on local government to find out how the councils got the funds for the execution of the projects.

The committee was given two weeks to complete its assignment.

The House’s decision stemmed from the award of contract for the construction of school chairs and desks running into hundreds of millions of naira in Buji, Dutse, Miga, Kiyawa and other local government councils in the state.

The House also flayed the governor over the planned sale of the state’s property in Ikoyi, Lagos state.

The lawmakers expressed their disappointment at their ignorance of the planned sale, which, they said, has no approval of the state legislature.

Chairman of the appropriation committee, who also brought the matter to the House, said doing so was tantamount to contravention of the constitution and an abuse of due process.

The lawmaker assured that all those involved in the landed property deal would be fished out and made to face the full wrath of the law.

The House then called on the government to reverse its decision to sale the property in the interest of peace.