Under the watch of the anti-corruption messiah, President Muhammadu Buhari, reports suggest that Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, has awarded himself a contract worth N3.6 billion.
The report revealed that the governor awarded the contract for the supply of 105 “official vehicles” for the use of the governor and other government officials to Adda Nigeria Limited, a company to which he is a director and retains a 20 percent stake in clear contravention of Code of Conduct and Public Procurement laws.
The Code of conduct for procurement practitioners states that “public officials are expected to make decisions and act without consideration of their private interests.”
The delivery of the contract which is reportedly controversial with allegations of shady execution was one of Mohammed’s first actions as governor.
Smooth Sailing
The governor, according to the report in his first actions as governor awarded the contract to Adda Nigeria Limited, where he owns 100,000 capital shares in anticipation of the requisite state executive council approval.
The standard bidding processes through open competitive bidding according to the Bauchi State Public Procurement, Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Agency law was ignored.
Other required procedures and paperwork, however, trailed behind months after.
The governor in breach of Section 25 of Bauchi procurement law which forbids officials involved in the procurement process from partaking in contract bidding or cooperation with bidders, also contradicted sections 5 and 6 of the same law which also bars public officers from putting themselves in positions of conflict of interest and disallows them from partaking in any business other than farming.
It is worthy of note that while the 2019 Bauchi State budget provides for N1 billion for motor vehicle purchases to be handled by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the government increased the money by N2.6 billion.
The 105 vehicles also outnumber the number of the governor cabinet, himself, his deputy, the 31 state assembly members and 20 commissioners with the cost of the vehicles varying from the market price by as much as N11 million for some of the vehicles
Controversies trailing the award of the contract reportedly led to Bauchi State Commissioner for Finance, Nura Manu-Soro’s resignation which was earlier reported to be because of plans by the governor to redeploy him to the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Governor Bala Mohammed reportedly remained a director of the company from 2016, including the period he was FCT minister which was also in violation of the law.And around the time the contract was awarded, Adda Nigeria Limited reportedly appointed Abdullahi Yari, a close friend to the governor as the company secretary.
Bala Mohammed Not New to This
Bala Mohammed the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory was elected governor of Bauchi state defeating the then incumbent Mohammed Abubakar who sought a second term.
Before his election as governor, Mohammed was standing trial for alleged corruption for his time as the FCT minister.
EFCC filed six-count charges including abuse of office and land racketeering against Mohammed on October 10, 2017. In April 2019, weeks after his election as governor, EFCC slammed amended charges accusing him, among other things, of receiving a house valued at N550 million in gratification and failing to disclose his ownership of some property.
Upon his inauguration as governor on May 29, the EFCC halted Mohammed’s prosecution, in deference to the constitutional immunity from prosecution.While he has denied involvement with the company despite pieces of evidence presented by Premium times, time will tell if any action will be taken by the EFCC after his time in office.
