Adamawa State House of Assembly Secretly Approves a N100 Billion Loan For Fintiri, Lawmakers Kicks

By theGazetteNGR

Editorinchief

Posted: May 11, 2021 at 11:50 AM, Updated: September 21, 2022 at 7:44 AM

… they secretly accepted the loan

State Lawmakers Invited For Emergency Executive Bogus Approval Of N100m Loan
Security Agency Bans, Bars Newsmen From Assembly Complex To Confirm The Loan Deal
Lone Seeming Anti-loan Patriotic Lawmaker Stages A Workout, Says Heâ€™ll Not Be A Party To Mortgaging The State
PASAN Cries Fraudulent Fault, Says Striking Members Did Not Participate In The Legislative-Executive Restrictive Deal
APC Frowns At Bogus Loan, Says Executive-Legislative Romance Will Mortgage Future Generation
SCO Says Itâ€™s Unbelievable, Ridiculous, Unacceptable Reducing Adamawa To A Republic Of Debtors
Adamawa State Government Says Itâ€™s A Bond Meant For Agric Business Support, Not A Loan
How Originally Critical Is A Governor Who Lamented N115bn Loan Inherited From Past Governments, To Secure A Loan, By Whatever Name, Of N130bn With Just two Years?
There Could Be Another Loan To Run The Remaining Two Years Of Fintiri Led Government

The decision of their colleagues to approve a N100 billion loan sought
by governor Ahmadu Fintiri has angered some members of the Adamawa State
House of Assembly.

The lawmakers returned from recess for an emergency plenary, where they secretly accepted the loan.

Journalists
went to the state assembly complex after receiving a tip about the
emergency plenary, but were refused entry by armed security personnel on
the assembly members’ orders.

The governor’s request for the loan was unclear, but Abdullah I Tapam, a
member of the All Progressives Congress in the state assembly, said the
procedure was unconstitutional.

While
answering questions from journalists, the lawmaker stated that the
Fintiri-led government has so far borrowed over N30 billion in loans,
including a N15 billion infrastructure loan, a N9.9 billion housing
scheme, and a N2 billion COVID-19 loan, among others.

When the
acting speaker and deputy speaker of the house, Pwamakeno Mackendo, who
oversaw the session, insisted on doing the wrong thing, Abdullahi Umar
Yapak, who is the chairman of the house committee on
inter-parliamentary, labor, and jobs, said he had to leave the plenary.

‘I received a text message yesterday that we should convene at the
assembly complex without actually knowing what is going to transpire.

‘When we came in, the deputy speaker who led the plenary in acting
capacity brought three letters and I rejected all the three letters. But
what baffles me much is the N100bn loan which the governor is seeking.

‘I objected to that because there are procedures, there are financial regulations which we have to abide by

‘There is provision in 2021 budget, a column for domestic borrowing
and in that column, we approve only N20bn. Because of that I staunchly
stood my ground that we should not approve a loan above N20bn.

â€œWhat took place in the house today was wrong because the poor man in the village will not understand what we are doing here.

â€So I advice that they should split it to N25bn this year, next year and the remaining two years, they still objected.

‘I still called the attention of the plenary to the budget provision
but they still turned me down. I also asked the plenary to respect the
house standing orders so that we can split into two according to those
in support or against the loan and I was overruled. Since there is
nothing more I could do I have to walk out of the house,â€ he said.

When asked what the government was looking for in the loans, Yapak said
he couldn’t tell from the letters because they were read quickly.

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