Former Kogi
State governor Prince Abubakar Audu who
is standing as the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in
the November 21 elections has promised to return N11bn (£36.4m) he allegedly
looted while in office if he is re-elected. Prince Audu was elected
governor of Kogi State
between May 1999 and 2003, having initially served during the brief Third Republic
between 1992 and 1993.
However, he lost the 2003 elections to a virtually
unknown businessman Ibrahim Idris of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and was
defeated by the same governor in 2007. In 2011, Prince Audu also lost to
incumbent governor Idris Wada, making the November election a rematch between
the two. During the ongoing campaign, Governor Wada and the PDP have tried to
portray Prince Audu as a man who mismanaged
Kogi State's
funds while in office, unable to account for large sums. However, Alhaji
Hadi Ametuo, the chairman of the
Kogi
State chapter of the APC
has appealed to citizens of the state to elect Prince Audu promising that the
N11bn allegedly embezzled by the former governor while in office will be
returned to the state. He rated Prince Audu's first term in office as more
productive than that of the current governor Idris Wada. According to
Alhaji Ametuo, Prince Audu deserves the votes of the people of Kogi state due
to his experience and achievements in his first time in Lugard House.
Responding to questions regarding Prince Audu’s N11bn corruption case with the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Alhaji Ametuo, said his man
should be forgiven for it. Alhaji Ametuo added: “Nobody is a saint. No
governor can claim he has not done any malpractice or stolen anything during
his time in the office. "We heard of Saraki's case and even Tinubu
is being accused of stealing funds but the truth is that Prince Abubakar Audu
has pledged to return the money to the Kogi treasury when he gets elected on
the November 21st. Yes he will return the N11bn or even more than that and that
will add to the Kogi economy.” In his current case before the EFCC,
Prince Audu and his co-accused are accused of offences bordering on criminal
breach of trust and misappropriation of public funds to the tune of
N10,965,837,040. They were arraigned on March 18, 2013 on a 36-count charge.
What
happens to the allegedly looted N11bn if he isn't re-elected?
No comments:
Post a Comment