BY Ibrahim Dangana and Bala Mal Usman Moriki Kofar Fada
Recent reports making the rounds reveal how Senator Muhammad Adamu Aliero’s fangs were found in a colossal financial crimes involving contracts awarded his companies in Zamfara State.
The controversial contracts awarded by former Governor Abdul-Aziz Yari between 2012 and 2018 were worth the total sum of N44.620 Billion. Even though the jobs were a patronage of his crony, Yari was reportedly so disappointed that he decried the performance of the contractor and auctioned all the equipment supplied.
The companies Senator Adamu Aliero used in Zamfara State from 2012-2014 include Trading Alliance Company Ltd which was awarded an electrification project 28 Billion Naira.
After collecting the total contract sum in three instalments, auditors assessed work done to be in the region of N5 billion and the light not even in sight.
In the heat of the outrage, Abba Aliero, the head of the company, was detained by the Sokoto Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) but eventually released on bail.The status of this case remains unknown.
Around the same time, Aliero fronted for a Chinese company, CIC Ltd, and collected a contract for the construction of motorised boreholes and over-head tanks for 14 Local Government Areas in Zamfara State at 320 million for each Local Government Area.
Again, after collecting the total sum of N13.120 Billion, Aliero’s partners abandoned the project without even reaching 20 per cent completion.
In an even more despicable instance, Aliero collected a contract for the supply of14 Heavy Duty Graders and 14 Tipper Trucks to each Local Government in Zamfara State at the cost of N3.5 Billion.
Aliero allegedly acquired graders and tippers abandoned at the outskirts of Kaduna by Stirling Limited, a foreign construction company. The dilapidated equipment were fitted with second-hand Canter engines and painted for effect.
At commissioning, none of the vehicles could even move talk less of doing any work. Governor Yari auctioned all the trucks and the graders to scrap metal dealers because they are old and not in good condition.
Nigeria’s war against corruption cannot be said to have started if such brazen impunity and breaches of contract are allowed to pass unpunished.
The cries of the victims of Aliero’s atrocious corruption whether in Kebbi or Zamfara States and other Nigerians will be heard; if not by the EFCC and other law enforcement agencies then by the Almighty Allah Himself.
Ibrahim Dangana and Bala Mal Usman Moriki Kofar Fada Zamfara state.
