Adamawa House of Assembly grill 3 commissioners
Police in Adamawa State yesterday took three Adamawa State commissioners to the state house of assembly after they were declared wanted by the lawmakers last week.
Last Thursday, the lawmakers directed the state Commissioner of Police to issue warrant of arrest for four commissioners in Governor Nyako’s cabinet who failed to honor their invitation to appear before the House to defend the 2013 budget implementation.
The three commissioners taken to the Assembly by the Commissioner of Police, Mr John Abakasanga were Commissioner for Health, Lilian Stephen, that of Agriculture , Lucy Ishaku and of Commerce, Ahmed Gorko. The commissioner for Land and Survey remains at large.
Asked by the lawmakers about the financial situation of Jimeta Modern Market, Ahmad Gorko explained that between 2009 and 2012, no revenue was recovered from sales of shops but that since his assumption of office in 2012, N100 million was realized and remitted to the Ministry of Finance.
He said his ministry has no access to the monies and lacked the resources to maintain the market.
The member representing Hong, Wafarninyi Theman presented a dozen memos from the commissioner to the Adamawa Governor, seeking for millions of naira approvals to spend from the proceeds realized from sales of shops in the market.
The Speaker, Umar Fintiri accused Gorko of misleading the House.
The House mandated him to produce bank statement in respect of five accounts operated by the ministry by Thursday.
The law makers after hours of grilling the commissioners agreed that the ministry of Health under Lilian Stephen exceeded its budgetary provisions.
In her response, Stephen argued that she was not aware of some of the expenditures claimed by the lawmakers while some of the monies were not yet released for the projects they were meant for.
The speaker explained that records from the Ministry of Finance indicated that either she is not aware of the activities of her ministry or she was being economical with truth. The House directed her to reconcile her figures and reappear next week.