Kano anti-corruption agency recovers N40m

Kola Oyelere, Kano - 15.04.2008

THE Kano State Anti-Corruption Directorate has received no fewer than 1,431 complaints and petitions bordering on corruption, just as the agency has recovered over N40 million.

The Director General of the agency, Mallam Aminu Inuwa Muhammed, disclosed this to journalists over the weekend.

He said the money was recovered from the public and private sectors in three years.

According to him, the agency had investigated about 20 local government chairmen in the state following allegations of misappropriation of funds, while a few of them were indicted.

Mallam Muhammad explained that “some of the chairmen investigated and indicted in the report that we submitted to Governor Ibrahim Shekarau could not come back as chairmen as the governor advised that the positions should be left for honest people.”

He stated that the directorate had referred 78 cases to the police and courts, while 72 were rejected due to lack of evidence to back up the allegations.

He pointed out that “our directorate is still calling for an enabling law so that we can start prosecuting those found guilty.”

He said the agency received 384 cases of human rights abuses, while 254 corruption cases were reported to them.

According to him, the agency had visited the 44 local government areas in the state to sensitise the people to the evil of corruption, a campaign, which, he said, had yielded results.

Mallam Muhammed expressed the belief that within a short period, the people of the state would be free from any form of corruption as Governor Shekarau had directed the agency to fish out corrupt public officials so that they could be dealt with according to the law.