The raging criticisms between the current Inuwa Yahaya-led administration and that of its Ibrahim Dankwambo- led predecessor in Gombe State over the state’s frightening debt profile portrays a situation where the alleger seems perpetrating more of the alleged crimes than the person he is alleging to have perpetrated them.
Recall that, in his 2019 electioneering campaigns the now Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of the APC heatedly disparaged the then Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo-led administration of building up a massive amount of debts, which he alleged to be to the tune of about One Hundred and Twenty Billion (N120 Billion).
‘Heartily’ sympathizing with the state, often very close to the point of weeping, ostensibly to whip up public sentiments against the Dankwambo administration and persuade the electorates to see him as a change for a better Gombe State, Inuwa Yahaya led his campaign train across the state, reprimanding the Dankwambo administration for stockpiling such a huge amount of debts that disappointingly affected the development of the state in some crucial aspects.
Inuwa alleged that the state, under Dankwambo, reached the dreaded redline, implying that no lender or borrower could risk lending or borrowing Gombe State a dime.
Also, acting on Mr Yahaya’s seemingly designed script to blackmail his predecessor, Dankwambo, a transition committee he set up, chaired by MK Ahmed, reported that the previous administration left behind a huge debt of N120 billion, even though the details of the borrowing could not openly ascertain this, making the whole report a hoax.
Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, who has, all along, vehemently denied incurring such debts and challenged the Inuwa Yahaya administration to produce any incriminating evidence, seems now savoring relaxation in the fact that no legal and, or, legitimate evidences against his administration are sourceable anywhere outside the confines of political smear campaigns.
But in a damaging twist of events, serious allegations of despairingly incurring unnecessary debts now seem torrentially rained on the Inuwa administration. Also, compounding such allegations against the Inuwa Yahaya administration is the allegation that due process and diligence are not applied in the process of securing such loans, while projects meant to be executed with such loans were either not existing or left in the lurch.
Investigation by Daylight Reporters reveal that the Inuwa Yahaya administration is increasingly inundated with serious allegations of debt stockpiling that tend to cripple development in critical sectors and further mortgage the future of the state in quite distant years.
Equally, worthy of note in viewing the Inuwa Yahaya administration’s debt profile is the fact that a sister online publication, Premium Times, recently carried a story titled: A Call To Stop Gombe Governor From Mortgaging the state, where a concerned group under the auspices of Gombe Good Leadership Association alleged that the state’s cumulative debt amount had risen to Forty-four Billion Naira (N44b).
The group, most-notably, strongly alleged that the State Executive Council, on 6th October, 2021, approved a loan of Thirty-five Billion Naira SUKUK Bond from the Capital Market.
Daylight Reporters has obtained several documents in support of this allegation, addressed to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and signed by the Secretary to the State Government seeking the legislature’s approval for the loan.
An anonymous Gombe Government House source confirmed to Daylight Reporters that the loan had been approved; confirming further that a string of other loans had also been collected from Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), United Bank for Africa (UBA), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other Bonds.
Furthermore, based on more documents obtained by this newspaper, below are the notable requests for loans approval by the Inuwa Yahaya administration as obtained in the documents;
1. On 16th March, 2020, in a letter signed by him and addressed to the Speaker of the State Legislature, Governor Inuwa Yahaya requested for approval to obtain a credit facility of N14.5B from Guaranty Trust (GT) Bank “to provide critical infrastructure, improved human capital development and ensure payment of Salaries of State and Local Government.”
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2. On 21st June, 2021, in a letter signed by him and addressed to the Speaker of the State Legislature, Governor Inuwa Yahaya requested for approval to obtain a N12.0B from GT Bank.
3. On 24th June, 2021, in a letter addressed to the Executive Governor, and signed by the Speaker of the State Legislature, Hon. Abubakar Mohammed, the Legislature passed a resolution on the request for approval by the Governor to obtain a N10.8B loan from the United Bank for Africa (UBA).
4. On 9th July, 2020, the Governor Inuwa Yahaya signed a letter addressed to the Speaker of the State Legislature, requesting for approval to obtain a N2B loan to finance healthcare infrastructure development in the state.
5. On 27th July, 2021, Governor Inuwa Yahaya signed a letter addressed to the Speaker of the State Legislature, requesting approval to borrow N5B from Family Homes Funds for the provision of 1000 affordable housing units in the state.
6. On 12th October, 2021 in a letter with reference number, GO/SS/POL/S/36/T.II addressed to the Speaker of the State Assembly, Gov Yahaya requested for the approval to raise a N35 billion SUKUK bond from the Capital Market.
7. On 20th October, 2021, barely a week after the above request, in a letter with reference number, GO/GD/FED – 98/VI addressed to the Speaker of the State requesting for a resolution to allow the Governor access the Federal Government’s Bridging Finance facility to the tune of about N19 billion.
Recall that, N11 billion was also borrowed by the previous administration for the Gombe Revenue Uptimization Company Limited (GROCOL) but later received by the present Inuwa Yahaya administration.
In summary, the Gombe debt profile as incurred by the Mr Yahaya’s administration if he succeeds in taking the recent loans, would be about N109 billion in just a little over two years of his locust revaging stewardship.
At this borrowing speed, how much debt, then, would the Inuwa Yahaya administration incur for Gombe State in four or eight years, should he win the 2023 election for a second tenure?
The Director General Press Affairs to Governor Yahaya, Mr. Ismail Uba Misilli, neither picked a call put to his MTN line by our reporter nor returned the text message sent to him.
However, Daylight Reporters obtained the following documents showing when and from where the Inuwa Yahaya administration secured the loans that allegedly portray it as a borrowing administration:
