A document of how Katsina State governor, Aminu Masari, ordered the release of N500m to the National Convention Committee of the All Progressives Congress in 2018, has been made public by Nigerian online news outfit, SaharaReporters.
The state’s Accountant-General, according to reports, was ordered to release the money as part of the state’s contribution to the party’s convention that year.
This was contained in a letter dated May 29, 2018, and signed by Political Adviser to the governor, Aliyu Hamisu.
The letter reads:
I am directed to convey approval for the release of N500,000, 000 only to the Special Adviser, Political, to enable the office extend KTSG assistance and donation to the National Convention Committee to enable it carry out the national convention at FCT, Abuja.
Meanwhile, a recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics rated Katsina as the 13th poorest state in Nigeria.
The state currently has a 16,000 deficit in public school teachers, making it one of the most educationally backward states in Nigeria.
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The N500m would go a long way in addressing the lack of adequate teachers in the state if it were invested in the State’s education sector by Governor Masari, analysts said.
Meanwhile, Katsina State is also popular for its high level of insecurity as regular attacks are carried out on residents who are still grappling with the poverty in the land.
Baring their minds, however, on the action of the governor, a cross-section of Nigerians have criticised him for abandoning his primary duty to the people of Katsina State and investing such amount of money in the APC’s convention.
In the meantime, a petition was recently written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission calling for the investigation of Governor Masari of Katsina; Secretary to the State Government, Mustapha Muhammed Inuwa; Commissioner for Local Government and some other government officials in over N300bn financial misappropriation.
The financial misappropriation was alleged to have been carried out between 2015 and 2018 in contravention of extant rules and financial regulations and constitutions of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
