How N300m governor convoy vehicles were sold off for N12m – SSA to governor

A Senior Special Assistant to the Gombe State Governor on Media and Publicity, Ismaila Misilli, speaks with CHIMA NATHANIEL on the recovery of government’s property allegedly gifted loyalists of the former Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo.

Are there proofs that the Dankwambo administration sold government property without following due process?

That is the essence of Air Cmdr. Peter Bilal (retd.) committee, which has a responsibility of validating the process some of those assets were auctioned. The committee checked and found out that they didn’t follow due process. The committee, in its wisdom, asked those who had collected public properties of whatever kind in the twilight of the Dankwambo administration to return them so that we can take record of them while the investigation continues. This was why some aides of the former governor, commissioners and the ex-Deputy Governor, Charles Iliya, returned one armoured vehicle and two exotic sport utility vehicles.

There are those who served the state for just three months but went away with exotic brand new cars. Even if it was monetised, they are not entitled to the vehicles. There is a rule that stipulates the number of years in service before you can benefit from such auction. How else will you describe the reckless sale of useful properties belonging to the state government? There are receipts of those that paid and those who did not pay. There are also receipts that claimed the former governor paid for his acquired property; whereas, he did not pay and were not approved by the council.

Are you saying the immediate past administration was corrupt?

It is not for this administration to tag anybody or group of persons as being corrupt; that one is within the purview of a competent court of law and other relevant agencies to determine. The government is only asking simple and clear questions. Towards the end of the last administration, there was this rush to sell government properties to the cronies of the last dispensation. So, the government only thought it expedient to ask fundamental questions if they followed due process in the disposal of such assets. I don’t know the part of the world where new things are auctioned at ridiculous amount. Across the globe, property will not just be auctioned without genuine reasons. However, it will not be fair for anyone to assume or infer that they were corrupt as that is not for us to say. That is left for the court to determine in due course.

Some believe that the allegations against the former governor were fabricated to score political goal. How do you react to this?

Which political goal are we talking about here? Are you talking about someone that has already won an election? There is no political goal to be scored anywhere. Governor Inuwa Yahaya was massively voted for across the 11 local governments and he enjoys the love of residents across the state. So, we don’t understand why the fact-finding effort would be seen as an attempt to score a political goal. The point is if you are given a responsibility to take care of an assignment in any capacity as a chairman, governor, president, it is imperative that you do an all-round check to ascertain the level of inadequacies. This is exactly what this committee is trying to do by asking a few questions since it is on record that brand new cars were purchased and auctioned before our assumption. We are all citizens of Gombe State. It is about asking fundamental questions about the whereabouts of the vehicles that the committee discovered to be in possession of a few individuals. Where in the world will you carry five vehicles worth over N300m auctioned to one person (yourself) at N12m, thereby leaving the current governor’s convoy with old and rickety vehicles? Those that are complaining are those that are beneficiaries of his largesse. One of those that are crying wolf quietly sent the vehicle back to us because he does not want to be embarrassed and he is busy encouraging others not to return theirs. Some complained that until they are paid gratuity, they cannot release theirs.

Will this probe not constitute a distraction to your government?

This government is very focused. You don’t expect the government to keep quiet when there was a breach of trust by the previous administration. As you already know, government is a continuum. Talking about auction of public property, is there any law that permits someone to buy something today and sell it tomorrow? These are things that are held in trust for the people and meant to be in the service of the majority. We are talking about brand new cars. Go and check the value of those cars, their market value and the amount they were disposed of to the cronies of the previous administration.

The government is very focused on delivering the dividends of democracy. And definitely as a responsible government, it must ask questions where it perceives a breach of the law. This will not, in any way, derail the effort of this administration because it is being handled by individuals of proven integrity and clean records. Illegality, if you allow it to thrive, will damage the prosperity of the future.

Across the world, leaders are made to pay for their action and inaction. The first thing the governor did was to constitute committees across important sectors from asset recovery to water supply and health care. This is to enable the administration to deliver the much deserved dividends of democracy.