Yakubu Dogara, A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, has told the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, to address the allegations of corruption against him.
Yakubu Dogara said this while waving aside claims by the state government that he was being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Dogara dismissed the claim as nothing but components of a smear campaign sponsored by Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, and its minions.
Recall that the former Speaker had in his letter of resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, published on Sunday raised numerous corruption allegations against the Governor.
In a statement signed by his Spokesman, Turaki Hassan, and made available to newsmen on Monday, Dogara pointed out that it has been over a year since he left office as Speaker with an unblemished record of service.
“If there is any evidence of corruption against the former Speaker, it should be published by those who make claim of its existence or forever keep their peace,” the statement added.
“It is public knowledge that Dogara, other than for official purposes as Speaker of the House of Representatives, did not and still does not have any business with the EFCC or Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC), unlike Bala Mohammed and his children who were regular guests at EFCC and Kuje Prison for months.
“Governor Bala should take this as a challenge to activate his contacts acquired while in detention at the anti-graft agency to make public any evidence of fraud or corruption against Dogara or any report indicting him.”
The statement further challenged the Governor to make public the purported appreciation letter for the gift of any vehicle received by Dogara.
“Governor Mohammed, rather than hiring paid minions to hurl insults and make false allegations against the person of Hon Dogara, would do well to scrap up bits of honour left in him by addressing the charges of corruption and self-enrichment listed in the resignation letter of Dogara as hiring paid minions to whitewash him will make no impact on Nigerians and indeed Bauchi people.”
The former Speaker challenged the Governor to address the allegations of corruption against him with 48 hours if he has nothing to hide, advising him to begin with records that he (Mohammed) used a company in which he was a director to execute a N4.6 billion vehicle purchase contract.
“He should explain who Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, a director with 20 percent shares of Adda Nigeria Limited, as obtained from the Certified True Copies of records of the company obtained from Corporate Affairs Commission and published by Premium Times on February 22nd 2020, is,” the statement said.
