Zamfara’s debt of N252b: Why EFCC should reopen the Paris Club refund case

The former governor of Zamfara state, Abdulaziz Yari, has been battling fiercely with the EFCC for over a year about the allegations that he diverted nearly N700m which formed part of the Paris Club refund due to his state. This of course has just been allegations and the case has remained pending with the EFCC.

However, the recent news of the N252 billion debt profile which was revealed by the transition committee chairman Alhaji Ibrahim Wakkala of Zamfara  might just go a long way to speak volumes of the possibility that the Paris Club looting which is a pending case with the EFCC could be true. After all, it is said that people do not really change, they simply become better at hiding who they truly are. The transition committee had discovered that out of the N2billion that had been approved by the previous administration for the payment of gratuity owed to retired civil servants just N400 million had been paid to retired permanent secretaries.

Unremitted National Housing Scheme’s that had been deducted from the state civil servants salaries from 2016 to 2019 was N1,431,645,305.99. The state also owed West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Examinations Council (NECO), National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEC), National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) and tertiary institutions like Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin and Science Academy, Abuja and tertiary institutions such as Crescent University, Abeokuta,  the whooping sum of N2,812,172,155.

This is totally unacceptable, where did all the funds that had been allocated to these sectors gone to? Perhaps, we should make a plaque and give to each inhabitants of Zamfara, with the inscription the “Most Long Suffering individuals in Nigeria”. What is the effect of this inherited debt on Gov Matawalle government? It means that the after-taste of the bitter experience of Yari’s government will be felt for a long time. Dear Zamfara, I am sorry to say but you have a long way to go, your tenacity will be very much needed for the days to come, Be strong!

Let us revisit the 2017 Paris Club Funds Allegation Against Yari

In 2017 a Federal High Court in Abuja had ordered a forfeiture of  N500m and $500,000 which is alleged to have been looted from the Paris Club refunds allocated by the Federal Government to the 36 states of the federation. The money had been said to be recovered from two firms First Generation Mortgage Bank Limited, and Gosh Projects Limited.

It was alleged that they were linked to the Governor of Zamfara State who at that time was the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. EFCC had alleged that the money had been fraudulently diverted from the NGF’s bank account on the instruction of Yari. They had also claimed that N500m was diverted to get rid of Yari’s personal loans which had been obtained from the First Generation Mortgage Bank Limited.

It was also alleged that Gosh Projects Limited used most of the money from the alleged loot transferred to it for buying building materials for the 100 room hotel project in Lagos.

Justice Nnamdi Dimgba  had given the interim  forfeiture order of the sums of money to the Federal Government in a ruling delivered on June 30, 2017.

An operative of the anti-graft agency investigating the case, Mr. Osas Azonabor, had alleged that the investigation revealed that the Paris Club refund involved “complex case of money laundering.  He had said that some companies that had no contracts with the Nigerian Governors Forum had been holding the Paris Club Refund in their account on behalf of the states government and had used their position to divert  N2.2bn from the NGF account.

The investigator alleged that the sum of N500m recovered from First Generation Mortgage Bank Limited, was part of the N2.2bn “fraudulently transferred by the NGF to BINA Consults and Integrated Services Limited on December 23, 2016.

On how the alleged fraud was discovered, the investigator said the commission, sometime in January 2017, received intelligence in respect of a case against the NGF.

Yari of course had not taken the allegations with levity and had threatened a show down with the anti graft agency. He had said and I quote.

“I am going to ‎write to the Federal Government that enough is enough; that either the EFCC does its work or we do a showdown with it,’ and accused the EFCC of pursuing a personal vendetta.”

What vendetta could the anti graft agency possibly have against him, when there are huge possibilities that he probably had something to do with the Paris Club fund looting? Yari has no doubt failed his past government. The 252 billion Naira transition debt shows that there were so many uncompleted projects while in power, which speaks volumes of how he handled his administration and consequently in its own way has shone more light on the possibility of the alleged Paris Club Fund looting.

In April 2019, Kadaria Ahmed a Nigerian journalist, media entrepreneur, and television host had tagged Yari the worst governor in Nigeria’s history. Her claims had come from the fact that Yari had been ineffective during the incessant killings in Zamfara. She had said and i quote

“As far as I am concerned, that Governor is the most useless governor in the history of Nigeria.

“Quote me: he is the most useless Governor in the history of Nigeria. This is a governor whose reaction to the killings in his state was to resign as the Chief Security Officer. He went on the record to say that he cannot be the Chief Security Officer. So, I don’t know what he is still doing in office; he doesn’t care.”

She had claimed that Zamfara had deteriorated in peace and prosperity since he had come into power.

It is high time the EFCC take a closer look  at Yari and make sure, if found guilty, he does not go unpunished for his crimes against the citizenry of Zamfara.