Posted by Jude Owuamanam on
The newly appointed Accountant General of Plateau State, Mr. Nuhu Madaki, was on Thursday arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC].
The newly appointed Accountant General of Plateau State, Mr. Nuhu Madaki, was on Thursday arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC].
He was picked up as part of the on-going investigations into the finances of the state government.
Madaki was arrested two days after his appointment was announced on Wednesday by the acting Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Lita Shindai.
He replaced Mr. Mathias Dafur, who was said to be on secondment from the Shell Petroleum Development Company [SPDC].
Madaki was reportedly arrested in Abuja while attending a meeting of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee.
Though the actual reasons for his arrest could not be immediately ascertained, the development, however, came three days after the escape of Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Diepreye Alameiseigha, from London where he was equally standing trial on money laundering offences.
Dariye was to be arranged by the same court over a similar offence last year.
As at 9 p.m. on Saturday, the where abouts of Madaki or where he was being detained had not been established.
The state's Commissioner for Information, Mr. Yakubu Datti, who confirmed the arrest of the accountant-general, claimed that it was part of the orchestrated attempt to cripple the state government.
He said that part of the plan was to squeeze the state of funds and cause social upheavals so as to make the state ungovernable.
The commissioner said that Dariye's case should not be linked to that of the Bayelsa governor because they are two different issues.
Datti wondered why Madaki should be arrested now when he worked under Dafur, who was the accountant-general during the Gen. Chris Alli-led emergency rule administration that looked into the finances of the government when Dariye was on suspension.
Alli was said to have conducted an investigation into the finances of the state government during his six-month rule.
Moreover, the commissioner said that there was even a court judgment restraining the EFCC from investigating the accounts of the state government.
"You remember that after the judgment, petitions had been written against some state governors, which the EFCC could not investigate because of the immunity they enjoy, which the court affirmed in that judgment.
"Are they now disobeying the court judgment or is Dariye's a case of selective treatment?," the commissioner queried.
Datti said that the new onslaught against the state government might not be unconnected with the recent moves to recall the Deputy Senate President, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu.
He said the move to recall Mantu was an exclusive decision of the people of the central senatorial zone who elected him, adding that the state government has nothing to do with it.
SUNDAY PUNCH, November 27, 2005