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A Jolly Bad Governor:Ex perm sec
narrates how ex Gov Nyame’s regime
paid N450m for a N16
contract Newsdiaryonline
Wed July 13,2011
A Permanent Secretary in the Taraba State Ministry of Finance,
Asabe Maiangwa, has told
a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting
in Abuja, how N450
million was paid out by the state government to several
persons; out of which
only N16 million was used for the supply of
stationeries and office
equipment at the instance of the then Commissioner
of Finance, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Tutari.
Maiangwa is the 7th
prosecution witness in the prosecution of the former
governor of Taraba
state, Rev Jolly Nyame who is standing trial over a 41
count charge bordering
on money laundering, criminal breach of trust and
gratification to the tune of N1.3billion while he held sway as
governor of Taraba
State.
At the resumed hearing of the case today, July 13th 2011, the
witness who was being
led in cross examination by prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs,
recounted how a whooping
sum of N450 million was paid out from the state
treasury for a phony
contract. Maiangwa who corroborated the previous
testimony of the
Accountant in the ministry, Alhaji Naigari Umar, said she
was in Kaduna for a
seminar in 2005 when her Secretary called her on phone
to inform her that a cheque for the sum of N250 million was
released from the office
of the Accountant General to be paid through her ministry to
Salman Global Ventures
Ltd.
She said she directed the secretary to ensure the necessary
documentation which
includes preparing the payment voucher and ensuring that the
receipt is signed before
releasing the cheque. “The secretary carried out my
instruction and showed
me the documents in the file. I endorsed the back
of the receipt and
passed the document back to the secretary and the file was
returned to the dip, where we store files”, she told the court.
Asked if the payment of the N250 million followed due process
and if she knew what
purpose the money was meant for, she said, “I was not around so
I don’t know. But I did
not see anything in the file to suggest that the
job was done”.
Also asked to tell the court what she knew about the
payment of N200 million
by the state government in 2005, she said “In 2005, the
Honourable commissioner
of finance (Alhaji Abubakar Umar Tutari), met me and gave me
a list with two names-Salman
Global Ventures and the Deputy Speaker. He
told me that the
Accountant was going to bring a cheque from the
Accountant General’s
office and we should disburse it”. She said she
handed the note to the
Accountant. “In the note, the Commissioner directed
that the sum of N165
million should be paid to Salman Global Ventures, N15
million to the deputy
speaker, Taraba State House of Assembly, N4 million
to the P. A. to commissioner of finance and N16 million was for
the purchase of the
stationeries”. She further said that she handed over the
N16 million to the
Accountant for the purchase of the stationeries through
a local contractor, Baba
Gambo. The permanent
secretary was further asked what she did when she discovered
that the contract items
were not supplied, she said she went to the
Commissioner for Finance
to ask him the purpose for the issuance of cheque
to Salman Global
ventures limited when the jobs were not done. She said the
commissioner told her that he was given an instruction to that
effect.
She was again asked if she knew who gave the commissioner the
instruction, she
answered in the affirmative. Before she could go further with
her testimony, defence
counsel, Barrister Charles Edosonwan, objected and said
it was improper for the
witness to give testimony based on “hear say. The
only person who can do
that is the Commissioner of Finance and no other
person”. This led to a
protracted argument before the trial judge, Justice
Adebunkola Banjoko who
thereafter adjourned the case till October 5, 2011,
for ruling and
continuation of hearing. But
before the adjournment, the permanent secretary had also told
the court that the
Commissioner of Finance after the payment of the various
sums, gave her N8
million as a gift to be shared for the entire staff of
the ministry.
It would be recalled that the court was told on July 12, 2011,
how Rev Nyame verbally
queried the Accountant, Alhaji Naigari Umar, for refusing
to pay
Salman Global the sum of N200 million.
Alhaji Umar, during a cross
examination by defence counsel, Barrister Olalekan Ojo, said he
was summoned by a former
Commissioner of Finance in Taraba State to a hotel
in Jalingo to explain
why he refused to
pay the contractor for non execution
of a contract
for the supply of stationery and office
equipment.
“When I got to the hotel, I saw the governor, the Commissioner
of Finance and a
representative of the contractor. The ex-governor was about to
leave when he spoke to
me in Hausa, pointing to the representative of the
contractor that why did
I not pay this person?”
Count one of the 41 charges reads, “That you, JOLLY TEVORU NYAME
between January and February, 2005 at Abuja in the Abuja
Judicial Division of the High
Court of the Federal Capital Territory, while being the Governor
of Taraba State of
Nigeria and in such capacity entrusted with dominion over
certain property to wit:
the sum of N250, 000, 000, .00 (Two Hundred and
Fifty Million Naira)
meant for the purchase of stationeries by the Taraba
State Government
committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said
sum and you thereby
committed an offence punishable under Section 315 of
the Penal Code Act Cap
532 Laws of Federation of Nigeria 1990”.
Count 2 “That you Jolly Tevoru Nyame between January and
February, 2005 at Abuja
in the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of the Federal
Capital Territory, while
being the Governor of Taraba State of Nigeria and
in such capacity
entrusted with dominion over certain properties to wit:
funds meant for the
purchase of stationeries by the Taraba State
Government committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the
said funds by collecting
the sum of N180, 000, 000.00 (One Hundred and Eighty Million
Naira) from the entire
sum for your personal use and you thereby committed
an offence punishable
under Section 315 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws
of Federation of Nigeria
1990”.
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