Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia has handed over a truckload of palliatives he confiscated to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) for investigation.
According to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Tersoo Kula, in Makurdi, the state capital, on Wednesday, while handing over the palliatives to the anti-graft agencies, the governor urged them to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.
A truck conveying palliatives meant for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Kwande/Ushongo Federal Constituency was caught offloading at a private residence along Kilometre 2 in Makurdi.
The governor upon discovery of the incident confiscated the truck and moved it to Government House to ascertain why palliatives were being offloaded in a private residence in Makurdi.
According to the statement, checks later revealed that the palliatives, which were loaded from a National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) warehouse in Jos, had found their way to a private residence under the directives of the representative of the Kwande/Ushongo federal constituency, Mr Terseer Ugbor.
Alia, who admitted that he ordered the truck to be impounded at the government house, said he wanted to know why goods released from NEMA for distribution to IDPs in Kwande/Ushongo federal constituency were being offloaded at a private residence in Makurdi.
He stated that preliminary investigations revealed that the goods were coming from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and were meant to be sponsored by the state government and lifted by the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).
The governor, who spoke to NEMA headquarters upon his return from the United Kingdom, expressed displeasure over the discoveries of some hidden facts regarding the matter.
“In a letter from NEMA headquarters addressed to the representative of the Kwande/Ushongo constituency, Terseer Ugbor, who actually lobbied for the materials, the agency specified that the state government should pay for the expenses of lifting the materials in Jos, and that the materials should be taken to the state by NEMA and handed over to SEMA”, the statement stated.
Alia, who said other trucks conveying other materials such as mattresses were still missing, urged anti-graft agencies to liaise with a three-man committee from the state and conduct a thorough investigation to uncover more facts.
He said the materials were to be distributed directly to the affected persons by officials from the Agency’s North Central Zonal Office in collaboration with the Benue SEMA team.
He called on the Acting Executive Secretary of SEMA, James Iorpuu, officers of the EFCC, and a few others to monitor the situation and ensure that due process was followed and that the materials were distributed to the rightful people.
Meanwhile, the federal lawmaker, who spoke to journalists on the phone on Monday, said that he transported the relief materials to Benue State from Jos, in collaboration with NEMA.
He added that he had an agreement with NEMA to offload the relief materials at a warehouse in Makurdi pending when a date for distribution to beneficiaries at Jato Aka would be fixed.
The lawmaker, who condemned the action of the state governor, regretted that the issue was being politicized and added that he had expended over N5 million to convey the materials to the state.
He said: “It is true that the Benue State Government seized one of the truckloads of palliatives and diverted it to the Government House under the pretext that we planned to divert the materials”.
He listed the items in the seized truck to include 578 bags of rice, 578 bags of garri, 578 mosquito nets, 578 mattresses, 578 pieces of wax print, 58 cartons of vegetable oil, 58 cartons of seasoning cubes, and 58 cartons of tomato paste.
