PDP alleges mass diversion of public funds in Plateau

The Plateau chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the state government of “massive diversion of public funds.” Its Chairman, Mr Damishi Sango, at a press briefing on Tuesday in Jos, claimed that the state had received more than N97 billion as revenue from the Federal Government in the last one year.

“But that huge sum was conspicuously diverted into private pockets.

“Instead of executing useful projects, government has opted for frivolous projects aimed at empowering families of those in government, their friends and few individuals.

“We make bold to say that the state government received over N97 billion as revenue in the past one year, yet these sums are not utilised toward alleviating the suffering of the people.

“For over a year now, people of the state have been languishing in pains while government wallows in corrupt tendencies, segregation, and chains of tribal and political discrimination.

“In the last one year of his tenure, Gov. Lalong has collected bank loans to the tune of N18 billion without anything tangible to show for it,” Sango alleged.

He also alleged that a N1.4 billion was used to purchase luxury cars for some government officials, while another N1.4 billion went into purchasing and installation of GPRS tracking devices for the vehicles for a period of one year.

“I wonder why government will waste this huge amount of money on things that matter less, especially at a time pensioners and civil servants are still being owned salaries and pensions,” he said.

Sango alleged that most foreign trips embarked upon by the governor were fruitless, claiming that nothing meaningful had come out of them even when each of them usually cost an average of N300 million.

Reacting, the Special Adviser to the governor on Media and Publicity, Mark Logyen, dismissed Sango’s claims as “mere ranting of the leader of a drowning political party”.

“Reacting to the allegations will be like over-flogging a dead horse because Plateau people are already celebrating the achievements of the Lalong administration.

“The PDP administration left a lot of mess and we have already set up a Judicial Commisison to unearth that; so Damishi has nothing to tell us now,” he said.

Source: Vanguard