About N150 million has been declared missing from the Niger Government House in Minna.
The money was said to have disappeared from one of the offices, despite the heavy security already put in place by the new administration since assuming office on May 29.
Already, the All Progressives Congress (APC) which is also the party in government in the state has said it was uncomfortable with the development and therefore called for a probe.
The Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Jonathan Vatsa, in a statement, said the development was unacceptable and that Governor Abubakar Sani Bello should immediately look into it.
Vatsa said in line with the anti-corruption stance of the APC government, the governor should not spare any member of the party who has soiled his hands by stealing money meant for the people of the state.
According to him, for the state to get it right, the governor must toe the line of General Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war by axing any official found wanting within his government.
Vatsa said the party could not afford to dash the hopes of millions of Nigerians who believed in the present administration by going back to the era of outright looting of public funds by government officials to the detriment of the masses.
According to him, “Niger State has been looted to stupor under the PDP government for the past eight years, even if it was yesterday that our dear governor appointed any of our member and he is found wanting the next day, such an official should be axed.”
The party pointed out that the stories emanating from the government house over the disappearance of such huge sums of money with just two months into the life of the administration was worrisome and called for urgent action.
The statement pointed out that self-centred government officials who do not see their appointment as service to the people which is the guiding principle of the present administration but a way to enrich themselves should be quickly shown the way out.
According to the statement, “This does not mean people should not be given their dues , in fact those who deny others their dues are same people who engage in aberrations in their financial dealing and the governor should not consider any political implication before sacking corrupt elements.”
“We are sounding this warning because we don’t want our party members appointed to think that because they are members of APC they will be spared in the governor’s anti-corruptions agenda, in fact our party members should in the real sense be used as examples for others like civil servants, we therefore urge the governor to sack any party man found wanting no matter the duration of his or her appointments before committing such offence”
The party stated that they are confident that the governor will not tolerate corruptions’ and leakages and therefore urged party members to know that APC will not conduct affairs of government like PDP hence the party will not engage in what it fought against.
