Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide (OYC) has alleged that the fire the gutted the office of the Account General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, yesterday was an attempt to disrupt investigation into the N2trillion palliative money shared to Nigerians.
It could be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Minister of Humanitarian affairs to share N20,000 each to the poorest Nigerians to help them cope during the lockdown which was declared to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The ministry have said to have shared the money to millions of Nigerians within a short period of time and the data is with the AGF, hence the national assembly has asked the AGF to present the data.
Hours later, fire from unknown source engulfed the AGF office.
Reacting, OYC, in a statement signed by its president general, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, urges the NASS to go ahead, perform a forensic investigations into the causes of the fire Incident that happened in the Treasury House on Wednesday April 8th 2020.
According to the group, the National Assembly, should initiate a probe on the perceived fraudulent activities associated with disbursement of 2 trillion Naira of Coronavirus Palliative care.
“OYC Condemned vehemently the attempt by political Musketeers to destroy data base of the Accountant General of the Federation’s office, Nigerians are fully aware that something fishy happened in the disbursement of the Coronavirus pandemic palliative Money.
“National Assembly should not be cowed to probe this monumental fraudulent activities of those involved in the process, no sacred cow should be spared in the investigation”, the press statement reads.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s minister of state for budget and planning, Clem Agba, says the fire that gutted the office of the accountant-general of the federation (AGF) did not destroy any record.
The minister said the fire was caused by a spark in one of the air conditioners (AC) on the fourth floor.
“We have gone round the rooms and offices where the fire affected, and I am glad to report that our data Centre where all our records are kept are fully intact,” he said.
“There is no destruction, so we haven’t lost any record. As a government I want to assure you that our records are intact, a few documents are burnt, we haven’t started recovery to check what actually burnt, but all our financial transactions are intact.
“We would be doing a full scale investigation using the right professionals to determine exactly what happened.”
Also speaking, Ahmed Idris, AGF, told TheCable.ng, that there would be a “thorough” investigation of the incident.
“For emphasis, our data Centre is intact, no harm in any way except for the cooling system which we are now working hard to put back to operation,” Idris said.
“We are also glad there is no casualty.”
