PDP to Gov. Bello on $181m saga: Make your assets public, throw state account open

The $181 million Islamic Development Bank loan saga has taken another dimension as the Peoples Democratic Party in Niger State has challenged Governor Abubakar Sani Bello to make his assets declaration between 2015 and 2019 public before inviting the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate the said loan unaccounted for.
The PDP through its Legal Adviser, Isah Mustapha, while welcoming the challenge thrown by the Governor to invite the EFCC to examine the state records, told our Correspondent on Saturday that the invitation, though dubious and suspicious, is a welcome development.
Mustapha said: “Governor Sani Bello should throw his asset declaration form for 2015 and 2019 open to the general public for scrutiny.
“Or hasn’t he been paraded on several news fronts as the richest Governor in Nigeria?
“What business does he do to earn so much?
“And before the EFCC arrives, we challenge Governor Abubakar Sani Bello to throw the state accounts open.
“Let the people know what he did with the hundreds of Billions of Naira that have accrued to the state in the past five years with no single project commenced or commissioned.
“Governor Bello should know better that he doesn’t need the EFCC to prove anything if he is transparent; all he needs is to commission just one project worth N2 billion or N3 billion.
“The PDP finds it phoney and dubious that a simple act of integrity has not been obeyed talk more of inviting EFCC to check for $181 million Islamic Development Bank loan.”
It should be recalled that dew days ago, the Governor had said: “Based on the allegation on the loan meant for fixing Bida-Minna Road, we did not meet any money in government account when we came into office neither has there been any money of such received by the government.
“For this, we are inviting the EFCC to come and probe this government and the other government to see who is lying among us.
“But I still say that we did not meet anything in the account.
“EFCC should come and find out if the money has been released from that time till now.”
The PDP said: “This invitation, even though we know is dubious, is auspicious and a welcome development to us.
“Governor Bello knows better that Nigerlites have heard enough of him and are just waiting to see his exit, may be then the EFCC will have enough room to do their job properly without let or hindrance.”