Senior Special Assistant to the Gombe state Governor, Ismaila Uba Misilli.
1) Are there proofs that the past administration headed by Ibrahim Dankwambo sold government properties without following the due process and went away with others?
That is the essence of Air Cmdr. Peter Bilal (Rtd) committee, which has a responsibility of validating the process some of those properties where auctioned. The committee checked and found out that they didn’t follow due process. The committee in it wisdom asked those who had collected public properties of whatever kind in the twilight of the Dankwambo’s administration to return them, so that we can take record of them while the investigation continue. This was why some aides of the former Governor, commissioners and the deputy Governor Hon. Charles Iliya, returned (1)One armoured vehicle and (2) 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 it. There is a rule that stipulates a number of years in service before you can benefit from such auctioning. How else will you describe reckless sales of useful properties belonging to the state government. There are receipts of those that paid and those who did not pay, council memo, 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.
2) 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 or other wise 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, properties are not just 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 court to determine in due course.
3) Some believe that the allegations against the former governor were fabricated to score political goal. How do you react to this?
To score which political goal, which political goal are we talking about here. Someone that has already won election.There is no political goal to be scored anywhere. Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, was masively voted across the Eleven( 11) local governments and he enjoys the love of residents across the state. So we don’t understand why the fact finding would be seen as an attempt to score political goal. You the point rather 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 on record that brand new cars were purchased and auctioned before our assumption. We are all citizens of Gombe state, so it is In the middle of asking such fundamental questions about the whereabout of the vehicles, that the committee discovered that they are in the possession of a few individuals. Where in the world, will you carry 5 vehicles worth over 300 million (armoured) and you auction it to your self at 12 million naira. Thereby leaving the current Governor 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 the others not to return their own. Some were complained that until them are paid gratuity before they can release theirs. Government is not bound to especially when it is not able to do so.
4) Will this probe not constitute a distraction to your government?
Smiles, but the 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 auctioneering of public properties is there any law that permits someone to buy something today and sell it tomorrow especially something that is in trust of the people, 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 values and check the amount they were disposed at to the cronies of the previous administration. The government is very focused on delivering the dividends of democracy and definately 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 strive will damage the prosperity of the future. Across the world leaders are made to pay for their actions and inactions. The first thing the governor did was to constitute committees across important sectors from asset recovery, water supply, health care etc to enable the administration deliver the much deserved dividends.