Bala Mohammed

 Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed has alleged that his predecessor, Mohammed Abubakar spent N2.3 billion in five months to buy materials for burial in the state.

The governor, who spoke through his spokesperson, Dr Ladan Salihu in an interview with journalists in Bauchi said the funds were spent between January and May, 2019.

He explained that over N900 million was spent on the purchase of white cloth used for wrapping corpses while over N1.4 billion was used to buy the wood for lacing the graves after burial.

According to Mohammed, the state government had discovered issues of corruption, venality and daylight robbery of the commonwealth of the people of the state.

“This money which ought to have been appropriated by the state House of Assembly before expenditure, all of a sudden emanated from our treasury books.

“How could you imagine that a state government within five months, that is between January and May, 2019 spent well over N2.3 billion on funeral materials, dresses for wrapping dead bodies and the wood that you lace the graveyards with,” he querried.

Asked if the state government had any proof to substantiate its claim, he said there was no iota of doubt on the matter as there was documentary evidence to prove such.

“All these are captured in the report of the transition committee and these were gathered from documents and vouchers and payments made from our treasury books. There is the Freedom of Information Law, use it and find out for yourself from those documents.

“Government will take stern measures. We will recover every kobo that has been looted or stolen by the immediate past administration and in fact the administration before it.

“Where it is established that there is a clear case of misappropriation or outright stealing of public funds, it’s an obligation, you don’t allow criminality to run roughshod on the rest of us because these are public funds,” he added.

Abubakar has however dismissed the allegations, describing them as laughable.