Kaduna State House of Assembly has suspended three Local Government Chairmen over alleged financial mismanagement while two Local Government Chairmen were found guilty of not adhering to the ethics of their office.
The committee of the house found the suspended chairmen guilty of awarding contracts without adhering to due process, in accordance with the State Public Procurement Law of 2016, Section 35 Subsection 23.
The chairman of the ad-hoc committee set up by the assembly, Munirat Sulaiman Tanimu, representing Lere East remarked that after thoroughly scrutinizing the financial activities of five local government areas, namely Chikun, Kaura, Kagarko, Soba, and Birnin Gwari following a resolution on July 18, 2023, the committee found the suspended chairmen wanting.
She explained that the committee invited the affected chairmen to provide financial documents, including bank statements from June 2022 to June 2023, departmental vault account (DVA), approved budgets for 2022 and 2023, capital and recurrent expenditures for the respective years, and a list of awarded contracts and their levels of completion, among others.
Upon studying the documents, the committee found that the chairman of Kaura, Kagarko, and Chikun had contravened Section 48 of the Local Government Administration Law of 2018 and Section 35 Subsection 25 of the Kaduna State Public Procurement Law of 2016.
Tanimu maintained that these sections outline the necessary compliance with budget allocations and the state’s public procurement regulations.
Therefore, the committee recommended that the three chairmen vacate their offices for the next six months for further investigation.
They were also directed not to be present at the local government secretariats during this period and must hand over their responsibilities to their respective vice chairmen.
The Assembly also acknowledged that the chairmen of Birnin Gwari and Soba local governments did not violate any laws but were reprimanded for their failure to procure the 2023 approved budget from the Ministry of Local Government on time.
Contributing to the report, the House Speaker, Yusuf Liman Dahiru, who presided over the plenary emphasized that all political officeholders should refrain from embezzling public funds, warning that anyone found guilty would face strict legal consequences without any preferential treatment.
