The Kogi State Office of the Cash Transfer Unit (KGSCTU) has refuted the allegations of a publication in some online media of a purported fraud allegedly perpetrated in the CCT office in Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Barr. Gambo Mohammed, the Grievance Redress Manager (GRM), Kogi State Cash Transfer Unit (KGSCTU), in a statement on Tuesday in Lokoja, refuted the allegation and described it as malicious and unfounded.
”The attention of Kogi State Office of the Cash Transfer Unit (KGSCTU) has been drawn to a malicious and unfounded publication in some online media of allegations of a purported fraud allegedly perpetrated in the CCT office in Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi State.
In the publication, the Kogi State Commissioner of Independent corrupt practices commission, (ICPC) was accused of failing to Launch investigation into the allegations of fraud in the implementation of the CCT programme in Kogi State.
The petitioner, one Hauwa Sulaiman had claimed that she petitioned the ICPC Commissioner alleging that the CCT desk officer in Adavi LGA, Mrs Memunat Ohunene Abdusalam, conived with the Senior Special Adviser (SSA) on Security for Adavi LGA, Hon. Joseph Omuya Salami, to shortchange CCT beneficiaries in the area.
To Set The Record Straight:
The Petitioner, Hauwa Sulaiman, used to be one of the Cash Transfer Facilltators (CTFs) in Adavi LGA, before she was reassigned and replaced by the SSA on Security, due to her alleged involvement in extortion of CCT beneficiaries and also substituting some of their names with that of her cronies in the communities under her coverage.
The petitioner (Suleiman), had earlier in 2018 written a petition against the Adavi CCT desk officer, Memunat Abdulsalam, accusing her of extortion and substitution of CCT beneficiaries.
Receiving her petition, the National Officers from NCTO Abuja, headed by the National Programme Cordinator, came to Kogi State to investigate her petition, but unfortunately it was the Petitioner (Sulaiman) that was found culpable.
The investigation into her petition, revealed that the petitioner (Suleiman) was culpable of the allegations for extorting and substituting names of some beneficiaries in some communities under her coverage.
This is because, by the Management Information System (MIS) design of Enrollment Process, only the petitioner (Sulaiman) who was the then CTF, has the Logging Profile into those communities to effect such substitution and no other persons can do that, not even the desk officer as claimed by the Petitioner.
After she was found culpable by the NCTO team led by National Programme Coordinator, the Petitioner (Sulaiman) tendered an unreserved apology to the team and also withdrew her petition, but she was severely warned to desist from such act.
Few days after, we (KGSCTU) received a letter from the SSA on Security in Adavi, that Sulaiman had been reassigned by the LG for another assignment and was replaced by another CTF who took over from her.
Due to her replacement which did not go down well with her, Sulaiman (petitioner), continued to harass and intimidate the woman that replaced her as CTF, with thugs and hoodlums, and consistently blackmailing the CCT programme and obstructing its smooth running in the affected communities.
This development prompted the legal department of the KGSCTU to write a petition to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Adavi, requesting for appropriate action to be taken to prosecuting Suleiman, since the power to arrest and prosecute is vested on the police.
The petioner (Sulaiman) was subsequently arrested and detained by the police for prosecution. Few days later the DPO called us, saying that the Ohi of Adavi had intervened on Sulaiman’s behalf to be released. She was made to write an undertaking, apologize and to also take full responsibility of any of her subsequent actions or inactions.
After she was freed from the police custody, rather than abide by the undertaken signed with the police, Sulaiman wrote a fresh petition to ICPC with all manner of malicious allegations, accusing the CCT desk officer in Adavi and the SSA on Security of conniving to shortchange CCT beneficiaries and shared their stipends.
Sulaiman’s only Prayer in her petition to ICPC, was for her and one Mr Mohammed Abdullahi, who was a community GRM removed alongside with her, to be reinstated back to their former positions, of which the ICPC does not have such statutory power to do so.
Upon receiving her petition, the ICPC invited some Staff of (KGSCTU) for interrogation. These Officers went to ICPC office, narrated their own side of the story and presented evidences.
It should also be established that there was no time we were aware that the Desk officer for Adavi LG, Memunat Ohunene Abdusalam, collected any money from any beneficiary except the N500 paid by each beneficiary for production of their I.D card before the National office produced the standard one and this was unanimously agreed upon by the entire beneficiaries and the community leaders for the purpose of identification and transparency in accessing their stipends without misrepresentation.
Sequel to the above clarifications, we want to urge the Petitioner to allow the ICPC to do their job by thoroughly investigating all her malicious and unfounded allegations and ensure that the matter is brought to a logical conclusion.
Rather than engaging in campaign of media calumny against the CCT programme and acting like a wounded lion simply because she was edged out of the system because of perpetrated fraud, we enjoined the Petitioner to allow the ICPC to do their work.