Last month, Dr. George Akume, Governor of Benue State, was the special guest of honor at the Summit of the Mutual Union of Tivs in America (MUTA). The parley, which held in Chicago, Illinois, ended on a sweet note for Akume, a Tivman, who was profusely thanked by his kinsmen for his contributions to the success of the occasion.
The Governor left the summit feeling loved and appreciated. On his return from America, however, Akume was confronted with the grotesque news that two of the state’s top public servants had been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The arrested officials were Mr. Peter Paa, a deputy director in the office of the Benue State Accountant-General; and Terna Ahua, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources. Both men, who were detained by the EFCC in Abuja between 14 and 18 August, have since been released on bail.
News of the arrest did not exactly catch Akume by surprise. A month earlier, the EFCC had stormed Makurdi, the state capital, seized some government files and arrested some officials believed to have abused their briefs. Re-elected in 2003 after an initial four-year term, Akume is on the last lap of his reign as governor. Yet, on account of his misrule, indigenes of Benue State appear to have just begun their journey to poverty and squalor.
Seven years after Akume assumed office, many citizens of Benue State contend that the N97.5 billion the state has received, in allocations, from the Federation Account, between June 1999 and July 2006 (this is without prejudice to funds that came via the ecological funds), has been plundered. Wild allegation? The social amenities in the state decline to support this.
Currently, the state lacks motorable roads, pipe-borne water, health care facilities and other basic amenities. Indeed, Makurdi, the state capital, is on top of River Benue, yet residents groan under scarcity of potable water. The lack is generally attributed to misapplication of resources as well as corruption on the part of the Akume administration. Frustrated by this state of affairs, some indigenes of the state petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), demanding a probe of Akume’s handling of the state’s resources.
In a petition addressed to President Olusegun Obasanjo and copied the EFCC and ICPC, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, former Lagos State Police Commissioner, accused Akume of approving “monstrous sums of money through memos for non-existent projects or abandoned projects, award of over-inflated contracts to friends who end up returning part of the money to him, direct and illegal deductions from local government councils, frivolous donations and making payments for contracts through Irrevocable Standing Payment Orders (ISPOs).”
According to Tsav, the Akume administration spent N5 billion on gifts and donations to friends of the administration in 2004. “Out of sheer greed and excitement, Akume embarked on a spending spree to boost his ego, ignoring his basic responsibilities to the people. Within 10 months in the year 2004 alone, he spent N5 billion on gifts to individuals, buying cars for select men/women, organizing thanksgiving and picking burial bills with public funds,” Tsav noted.
This “generous” disposition, TheNEWS gathered, pitted the Governor against some prominent politicians like Senator David Mark and Wantaregh Paul Unongo who believed such a hefty sum should have been spent on road rehabilitation, piped water, reconstruction or the revamp of ailing government-owned factories. But Christopher Obute, Benue State Commissioner for Finance, during a press conference in Makurdi, admitted that while N5billion was indeed spent in 2004, it was not expended on gifts alone. Obute explained that there were many “public causes” that begged for attention and the government had no option than to channel part of the money to such causes. But his listeners were not fooled, especially as he did not explain what he meant by “public causes.”
Tsav also accused Akume of using fronts for contracts. One of these, claimed the former police commissioner, is Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, former Minister of the Environment and current Director-General of the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organization. This magazine gathered that CAD Development Limited, said to be jointly owned by Akume and Ayu, was awarded the contract for the Idye Flood Control Project in Wurukum, Makurdi, at the cost of N1.4 billion. Already, 50 per cent of the contract sum has been paid to CAD. But by the time TheNEWS visited the site last week, the company had abandoned the project, with only about 10 per cent of the work done. Tsav in the petition also claimed that “CAD is acronym for Christopher Ayu Demenongo. Christopher is Dr. Ayu’s Christian name, while Ayu is his grandfather’s name and Demenongo his father’s name. The company’s three directors are Paul Tsegba, an architect handing all contract jobs for Ayu in Benue State; Josephine Lawani, Ayu’s wife, and Anthony Sende, younger brother to Governor Akume.”
Ironically, Peter Ochojile, Benue State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, in a chat with newsmen in Makurdi, claimed the Idye Flood Control Project in Wurukum, Makurdi had been concluded! The commissioner also explained that the amount paid to CAD Development Limited, was part of the N2.2 billion allocated for ecological projects. He also disclosed that N350 million had been expended on erosion control projects in North Bank area of Makurdi.
Though the commissioner did not name the contractor handling the ecological projects, TheNEWS checks in Makurdi show that CAD was awarded the contracts. Like the case of the Idye Flood Control Project, the erosion control projects have not been completed, even though the company was mobilized to site in 2004.
Besides, the award of these contracts fell short of standard practice. The Governor, TheNEWS learnt, just asked the Commissioner for the Environment to raise a memo for the award of the three contracts to CAD and money was instantly approved. Indeed, CAD did not provide performance bond and advanced payment guarantee, yet it got the contracts.
But CAD is not the only company that is linked to Ayu and Akume. The duo are said to have vast interests in GANZA Nigeria Ltd. and GITTO Construzoni Generali Nigeria Ltd, an Italian company handling the ongoing N6.5 billion contract for the construction of the 350-bed Teaching Hospital and ultra-modern College of Health Sciences at the Benue State University, Makurdi. Information sourced at the EFCC showed that the contracts were awarded without competitive bidding or tender process. At press time, the entire contract sums had been reportedly paid to the contractors, yet the project is far from being completed.
However, Cletus Akwaya, Benue State Commissioner for Information is confident that the College of Medicine and Teaching Hospital would be completed by November, this year. “The commissioning date is November this year. And the contract for equipping the College of Medicine and Teaching Hospital with ultra-modern facilities has been awarded at the cost of N2.27 billion,” Akwaya added. TheNEWS investigations showed that contract for the completion of the Benue International Hotel came via an undated memo written by the then secretary to the state government, Bartholomew Oche. The SSG advised the governor on the benefits that the state would derive from having a five-star hotel in Makurdi, especially in the area of tourism development and Akume gave his prompt approval.
Therefore, on 1 August 2001, Governor Akume awarded the contract to Yukim Nigeria Limited at a cost N1.2bn. The company is owned by a South Korean friend of the Governor who is said to be a motorcycle dealer. The hotel, according to the agreement made available to TheNEWS, was supposed to be completed within 12 calendar months, the contractor having been mobilized with the contract sum of N600 million. Five years on, the project has been abandoned. There are unconfirmed reports that the contract has been terminated by government and re-awarded to another contractor at a cost of N1.9 billion.
When TheNEWS visited the hotel site recently, it was as quiet as a graveyard. Besides, this magazine’s checks at the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja show that Yukim is not a registered company. It would be recalled that the idea to build an international hotel in Makurdi was mooted by the government of the late Aper Aku in 1980.
The hotel is designed to have 320 rooms. The French company handling the project had only completed structural work on it before the military struck in 1983. The project was abandoned.
Apart from the abandoned hotel project, all other projects started by Aku, which the Akume administration inherited and invested huge sums of money on, have not been completed. Even the ones that were completed by military regimes before Akume came to office are either moribund or simply not functioning. Some of the projects that fall into the latter category are: Otukpo Burnt Bricks, Taraku Mills, Fertiliser Blending Plant and a host of others.
Cletus Akwaya corrobated this position in an interview with this magazine. “Taraku Mills at the moment is not functioning. The state government does not have the capacity to operate that factory,” he said.
But the government believes no failed contractor would go unpunished. “Government has set up a judicial panel of inquiry to try all failed contractors, including the contractor that was handling the Makurdi International Hotel,” Tyzodua Atim, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor told TheNEWS. However, observers contend that the state government has no reputation for implementing recommendations of panels of inquiry. They may not be wrong. In his first term in office, Akume constituted what was called Justice Kpojime Commission of Inquiry, to probe the N266 million Radio Benue FM contract scam. The commission has since submitted its report, but government consigned it to the rubbish heap.
Sources told TheNEWS that government sat on the report because it allegedly indicted Ambassador Iyorwase Hagher, Nigeria’s envoy to Mexico, a close pal of the Governor. Today, Hagher is a governorship aspirant on the platform of PDP.
What is of real concern to Benue indigenes is that even the few projects initiated by the Akume administration have not been completed, despite the increased statutory allocation to the state. They include contracts for the erection of solar panels (street lights) in Makurdi for N227 million, a N230 million Golf Course, Igumale Cement Factory, contract for the acquisition and installation of Asphalt Plant in Abinsi at the cost of N100 million, Tarka Dam awarded at the cost of N33 million, Apir Specialist Hospital Project, Makurdi Fruit Industry and a host of others. Even the few township roads supposedly completed were haphazardly tarred without asphalt. These are: Otukpo, Gboko, Katsina-Ala and Makurdi township roads.
Though these roads gulped billions of naira, less than three years after their completion, they are already in a bad state, some of them washed away by erosion.
Most of the major roads in Makurdi have not received government attention. A case in point is the road linking the residence of the Governor’s younger wife, Hanmon and Government House. Even the road connecting River Benue old bridge with the Water Works and Government House remains inaccessible to motorists. How the Governor continues to drive through these bad roads that lead to his home without feeling a need to fix them amuses residents of the state capital.
TheNEWS investigations in the state showed that the Akume administration has yet to tar any rural road since its inception.
It was, therefore, not surprising that the leadership of the Benue State House of Assembly, in 2004 was manifestly angry with the Governor, querying his inability to provide basic amenities of life to the people. Dennis Abutu, a PDP member representing Apa Constituency, who is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, captured the frustration of the legislators:“Every year, the Benue State House of Assembly approves billions of naira for road construction both in the townships and rural areas, but to our chagrin, no road has been tarred in the rural areas. The few that were tarred in Makurdi have painfully become death traps, either because contractors… did not do a good job or because the money developed wings.”
While describing the state government as a failure, Abutu said some of them (legislators) could no longer visit their constituencies for fear of being attacked by the electorate.
“Anywhere we go, the people stone us because we have failed them. Even in the church, the clergy insult us and that is why many of us are scared of visiting our constituencies.”
But the threat of the lawmakers came to naught after the governor ‘‘reached out’’ to them. The legislative arm, we gathered, has taken advantage of the malfeasance in the executive arm to milk the local government councils of their funds. Between January 2000 and February 2006, the house allegedly received N500, 000 monthly from each of the 23 local councils in the state. Besides, each member of the house received N10 million for constituency projects. But it was allegedly diverted to their personal use. In a move aimed at pocketing the legislators, the government of Akume, from year 2000, jacked up the monthly imprest of the house from N10 million in 1999 to N25 million. Already, the EFCC has commenced investigation into the allegation. When TheNEWS contacted the Deputy Speaker of the house, Mr. Ralf Igbado, he declined to speak. This magazine also tried to no avail to speak with the Speaker, Mr. Mzenda Iho, who was said to have traveled out of Makurdi.
But a former member of the Benue State House of Assembly, who craved anonymity, confirmed it. “It is true, immediately Margaret Ichen was impeached, the imprest Account was jacked up to N25million. Each of the honorable members by July this year had also diverted the N10 million that was approved for them for constituency projects,” the politician explained.
Yet, the Governor has not altogether been spared by angry subjects. In 2004, Akume’s convoy was stoned in Igumale, headquarters of Ado Local Government Council, on his way to Agila to attend the burial rites of Chief Akpowo Ochepa, father of Bernard Ochepa, the Governor’s Special Adviser on Rural Development. The Governor’s ‘‘sin’’ was that he refused to tar that road.
“In 1999, Akume was coming to Igumale to campaign at night and his car got stuck in a ditch. While pushing it, he lost his wristwatch. He promised to tar that road if voted into office, but he reneged. We have pleaded with him but he won’t listen. Here was a road killing the people regularly, so we had no option than to ventilate our anger,” a prominent youth leader in Igumale told TheNEWS.
Chief Barnabas Gemade, former National Chairman of PDP and Akume’s estranged godfather, is one of those thoroughly disappointed in Akume. “When we made George Akume governor, we thought since he had not touched money he would use the billions accruing to the state to develop it. But today, we are gnashing our teeth because Akume has squandered our resources…” Gemade declared in Makurdi.
Gemade apparently spoke the minds of the majority of Benue citizens, as the state under Governor Akume lacks infrastructure commensurate with half of accruals to it from the Federation Account for seven years. Residents complain that Makurdi, despite its status as a state capital, remains largely underdeveloped. The most intriguing and heart-rending for the people is that despite the River Benue literally criss-crossing the state capital, residents of the city have no water to drink.
Peter Ochojile, however, claims that government has spent N446 million to rehabilitate the Makurdi Water Works. But like it is the case with most projects embarked upon by the Akume administration, there is no evidence of this huge injection of capital. “If government had rehabilitated the Makurdi Water Works, there would have been water everywhere. We only hear that millions of naira has been spent on provision of water in Makurdi,” said a staff of the water works, located just behind the Government House.
Akwaya admitted that there is lack of potable water in Makurdi, but blamed the federal government for the problem. “The federal government and the state government had agreed to partner to build an ultra-modern water facility, otherwise known as Makurdi Greater Water Works… The federal government, between 2002 and 2003 deducted at source N800 million from the federation accruals to Benue, but refused to contribute its own counterpart funds,” he argued. But the Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Mukhtari Shagari has denied the allegation of deduction by the federal government.
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