By Uche Amunike
The presidency has dismissed allegations leveled against them by House of Representatives member, Hon Gudaji Kazaure, over misappropriation of Stamp Duty funds by some government agencies.
According to a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the allegation was a mere figment of the imagination of Hon. Gudaji Kazaure, adding that it was not constitutional for a member of the parliament to be the Secretary of an executive committee.
Speaking during an interview with BBC Hausa, Friday, Hon. Gudaji Kazaure explained that he was the Secretary of the Presidential Committee on the Reconciliation and Recovery of all Stamp Duties, alleging that critical institutions like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Protocol Department of the State House and the Office of the Secretary of the Government of the Federation, stopped him from giving President Muhammadu Buhari updates on findings dug up by his committee.
According to the lawmaker, the committee accused the government agencies of sabotaging the committee‘s efforts. He also stated that from the discovery made by the committee, the total sum of N89.09 trillion which was purportedly realized from deductions by banks had been misappropriated.
In his response, Saturday night, Garba Shehu opined that the presidential committee which Kazaure served as secretary had long been dissolved, adding that a different committee which had the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami as Chairman was set up in June 2020 by President Buhari and still reconciles Stamp Duties accounts.
His words: ‘Anyone familiar with our constitution will find it curious that a member of the Parliament is the secretary of an Executive Committee. It suffices to say that the entire net worth of the nation’s financial sector, the assets of the banking sector put together, is not worth N50 trillion, not to talk of the kind of money he is talking about,’ the statement said.
‘The Central Bank assures that there is absolutely no problem, whatsoever, with money from Stamp Duties. There is a committee duly set up by the President in June 2020, chaired by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and the Secretary is the Chairman of the Federal Internal Revenue Service that is currently reconciling the stamp duty accounts. The job is not finished. As it is, there is nothing to give credence to wild accusations made against the administration.’
As for the allegations made by the lawmaker about being prevented from meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu averred in the statement, that it was an unfounded claim because Hon. Gudaji Kazaure is known by everyone to be good friends with the president.
He stated: ‘As for Hon. Gudaji seeing the President, I’ll like to assure you that there is nobody that can stop him from seeing the number one citizen. Gudaji is a friend of the President.’
Hon. Gudaji Kazaure is the lawmaker representing the Kazaure, Roni, Gwiwa, Yankwashi Constituency of Jigawa State.
