Ortom: EFCC investigates Benue Governor over alleged N21.3bn fraud

The governor has been under the EFCC's probe since 2016 over the mismanagement of the fund.

Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, has been the subject of a probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as he's been linked to an alleged fraud to the tune of N22 billion.

According to a report by The Punch, the investigation into the governor's handling of the fund in question started in 2016, but wasn't made public until Monday, July 30, 2018, barely a week after Ortom dumped the ruling All Progressives' Congress (APC) for the People's Democratic Party (PDP).

According to the report, Ortom ordered the withdrawal of N21.3bn from four government accounts between June 30, 2015 and March 2018. Even though about N19 billion was earmarked to be paid to six security agencies that had been deployed to address the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the state, the EFCC disclosed that only N3 billion was paid with the rest unaccounted for.

The report read, "We investigated four bank accounts belonging to two Benue State Government's agencies. 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 N1,916,635, 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 N19,468, 951,590 from the Benue State allocation.

"Investigations revealed that N19bn was withdrawn by one Oliver Ntom, a cashier. Sometimes, in a day, he would withdraw as high as N500m by cashing several cheques worth N10m 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 N10m a month while the least any of the agencies gets is N5m 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 N60m is given to all the security agencies collectively every month as claimed by the permanent secretary, it cannot amount to half of N19bn in three years."

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

Ortom also cheated on salaries – EFCC

The EFCC investigation also revealed that Governor Ortom failed to pay salaries despite withdrawing the sum of N1.3 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 N28m while one Andooi Festus, believed to be a cashier from the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs withdrew N1.3bn. They have been invited," the report disclosed.

21 Benue lawmakers also under probe

The EFCC also disclosed to The Punch that 21 members of the 30-member Benue State House of Assembly are under investigation for allegedly diverting N375 million meant for the procurement of vehicles that would be used for oversight functions.

The report noted, "About 21 of the lawmakers are under probe. However, 25 of the lawmakers have returned all the money they received which adds up to N245 million. Four others have failed to return the remaining sum of N31m."

The Benue State government had awarded a contract worth N417 million (N375 million after tax) to Mia-Three Nigeria Limited to procure 30 Prado TXL vehicles for the lawmakers.

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