Gombe gov denies involvement in subsidy fraud

By JOHN BULUS

GOMBE – Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State yesterday denied being involved in the fuel subsidy fraud as alleged by the House of Representatives committee in its report.

Governor Dankwambo, in his reaction while signing  the Gombe State Fiscal Responsibility Bill into law at Government House, Gombe urged the people not to be disturbed by the publication, saying “I have never been involved in a fraud throughout my tenure as Accountant-General of the Federation.”

The House of Representatives committee had in its report blamed the office of the AGF during his tenure for authorizing the subsidy payment of N999 milion, 128 times within 24hours.

Governor Dankwambo said the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation was not responsible  for payment of  subsidy, and disclosed that after some enquiries he made, he found that the statement used by the committee was that of the PPPRA, which the AGF has no control over.

According to him, “the AGF only pays online from the source, either through the consolidated revenue account or the domestic excess crude account to be monitored and paid by the PPRA.”

He emphasized that, having served as AGOF since 1999 he has done his best to ensure that he demonstrates accountability and transparency in the way he operate and said he has not and will never be involved in a fraud.

“Don’t forget, Dankwambo is now a  politician, so there can be many factors that will be added to ridicule Gombe State’s name, but be clear in your mind that Dankwambo had never committed and will never be involved in a fraud.”

The Governor then promised  to get to the root of the matter in order to clear his name from the wrong misconception  created by the report.