Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State has set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate the financial spending of the two tenures of former governor Jonah Jang.
This was contained in a press statement by Emmanuel Nanle, Director of Press and Public affairs to the governor.
Nanle stated that the Commission of Inquiry will be chaired by a Justice of the Port Harcourt division of the Court of Appeal, Stephen Adah while Sani Mavo is to serve as Secretary.
Other members of the commission are Bibiana Bawa, Ekoja Ekoja, and Samuel Agamah.
The Commission’s Terms of Reference include : “To ascertain all financial transactions, done or entered into by the Government of Plateau State of Nigeria or through any of its Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), or official acting in its name from the 29th day of May 2007 to 29th May 2015.
“To ascertain and establish all financial allocations, funds, grants or monetary interventions and revenues which accrued to or in the name of the Government of Plateau State of Nigeria. Departments, Agencies (MDAs), Officials or Agents from the Federal Government of Nigeria or any International Institutions or Donor Agencies from 29th May 2007 to 29th May 2015.
“To ascertain and establish all loans granted to or obtained by the Government of Plateau State of Nigeria through any of its Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), and the purpose for which such loans were obtained and whether the loans were used for such purpose.
“To ascertain whether any property belonging to the Government of Plateau State or any of its Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), Parastatals and Institutions which were sold or in any way concessioned to any person(s), or institution(s), by any Government Ministry, Department, Agency (MDAs), or officials between 29th May 2007 and 29th May 2015, followed due process or procedure and whether the proceeds of such sale or concession were paid into appropriate Government coffers.
“To ascertain whether any property or properties purchased or acquired for or in the name of the Government of Plateau State were purchased in line with due process and procedure.
“To ascertain all contracts awarded by the Government of Plateau State or any of its Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), Parastatals or Officials between 29th May 2007 and 29th May 2015, the process or procedure followed in the award of such contracts, the value of each contract (including any variations and whether such variations were necessary and done in good faith), the level of execution or completion of each of them and the amount paid to the contractor as at 29th May 2015.
“To ascertain the total amount paid by the Government of Plateau State as salaries and allowances of serving and retired State Civil Servants, Local Government Employees and Political Appointees from 29th May 2007 to 29th May 2015; And to further establish whether any person or employee of Government received multiple payments of salaries or pensions, and the role played by any person(s) toward such payments.”
It would be recalled that almost immediately after Jang handed over to Governor Lalung, there were calls from various quarters in the state for the former Governor to be probed.
Among those that called for the probe was a senator of the 4th assembly, Venmak Dangin.
Dangin had insisted that if Lalung’s administration refuses to probe Jang, the people of the state would be heavily disappointed.
Also on June 1 this year, it was reported that a group known as “Buhari Integrity Group’, BIG, called on Governor Lalong to institute legal action against the immediate past governor of the state, over what they described as misappropriation of public funds.
The group, led by Alhassan Aliyu, as part of activities to mark the one year in office of the All Progressives Congress, APC government, had submitted a communiqué to the state chairman of the, APC, Lateb Dabang, saying that public resources should not be pocketed by a few.