No missing N20bn LG fund – Benue deputy gov

The deputy governor of Benue State, Barr. Sam Ode, has debunked the allegation of missing N20 billion from Local Government funds in the state, saying it is a mere figment of the accusers’ imagination.

Our correspondent reports that a transparency group known as Global Integrity Crusade Network (GICN), had in a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), called for the arrest and prosecution of the Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dennis Akura, and some of his staff for allegedly diverting N20bn out of the N55bn accrued to the local governments between June 2023 and October 2023.

But the deputy governor, reacting to the allegation while answering questions from members of the correspondents’ chapel under the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Benue State Council at his office in Makurdi, insisted that the claims were a mere fluke.

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Ode said that the finances of the local government are domiciled under the office of the governor of the state through the House of Assembly as he noted that the Joint Account was a transit account meant for the benefit of the local governments and could not have been tampered with.