Few Days after defecting from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has linked Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State to an alleged ₦22 billion fraud.

This is just as the EFCC revealed that 21 members of the Benue State House of Assembly were under investigation for allegedly diverting ₦375 million meant for the procurement of vehicles that would be used for oversight functions.

According to revelations by a report of an investigation Ortom had between June 30, 2015 and March 2018 allegedly ordered the withdrawal of ₦21.3 billion from four government’s accounts in Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank of Nigeria and the United Bank for Africa (UBA).

The report said about ₦19 billion out of the said money was said to be for the payment of six security agencies that had been deployed in the state to address the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

The anti-graft agency however stated that less than ₦3 billion of the money was paid to the security agencies while the remainder could not be accounted for.

The report read: “The first agency is the Benue State Government House which has an account in UBA with number 1017348051 and another account in GTB with number 0027952907. These accounts received ₦1,916,635,206 from the state’s allocation between June 30, 2015 and March 2018.

“The second government agency is the Bureau of Internal Affairs and Special Services. The agency has an account with UBA with number 1007540119 and a First Bank account with number 2023788057. Between the same period, the accounts were credited with ₦19,468,951,590 from the Benue State allocation.

“Investigations revealed that ₦19 billion was withdrawn by one Oliver Ntom, a cashier. Sometimes, in a day, he would withdraw as high as ₦500m by cashing several cheques worth ₦10m each.

“The permanent secretary upon interrogation said anytime security agencies requested funds, he would approach Governor Ortom who would ask him to write a memo to that effect. The permanent secretary would write and the governor would approve the money.

“The permanent secretary said the funds are usually given to six security agencies. He said the highest that any security agency gets is ₦10m a month while the least any of the agencies gets is ₦5m a month.

“He said after the money has been released, the governor usually orders that the memo be torn to pieces. It is important to note that if a total of ₦60m is given to all the security agencies collectively every month as claimed by the permanent secretary, it cannot amount to half of ₦19bn in three years.”

The EFCC further noted that the funds reportedly being spent were not in the budget of the Benue State Government in the period under review.

The EFCC investigation also revealed that Governor Ortom failed to pay salaries despite withdrawing the sum of ₦1.3 billion for that purpose from the Joint State Local Government Account.

“Investigations revealed that one John Bako, a member of one of the security outfits in Benue, withdrew ₦28m while one Andooi Festus, believed to be a cashier from the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs withdrew ₦1.3bn. They have been invited,” the report added.

The EFCC report further revealed that 21 members of the 30-member Benue State House of Assembly are under investigation for allegedly diverting ₦375 million meant for the procurement of vehicles that would be used for oversight functions.

“About 21 of the lawmakers are under probe. However, 25 of the lawmakers have returned all the money they received which adds up to ₦245 million. Four others have failed to return the remaining sum of ₦31m,” it disclosed.