Metro
Kogi Pilgrims Board boss suspended, handed to DSS for alleged fraud, nepotism
The Kogi State Government has given reason for the suspension of the Chairman of the state’s Pilgrims Board, Alhaji Mohammed Rabiu.
A statement by Kingsley Fanwo, the Director General, Media and Publicity in the Governor’s Office, said Rabiu was suspended over allegations of fraud and dehumanizing treatment of pilgrims from the State to this year’s Hajj.
The statement also disclosed that the travails of the Chairman stem from allegations of corruption, nepotism and blatant disregard to the welfare of the state’s contingents to this year’s pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
The statement reads in part: “It would be recalled that the Governor made adequate provision for Pilgrims, who performed this year’s Hajj in the Holy Land of Mecca. But to his surprise, contingents from Kogi State were subjected to dehumanizing conditions.
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“Consequent upon receipt of various complaints of fraud against the Chairman, Governor Yahaya Bello set up an investigative panel to probe into the activities of the Board in relation to this year’s Hajj exercise. Startling revelations have come out.
“It has been established that Pilgrims from the State were kept in substandard hotels in Mecca, prompting many of them to sleep outside the hotel. Also, many of the Pilgrims were shortchanged by the Chairman of the Board.
“The decision of the Chairman of the Board to discreetly include his relations and friends on the pilgrimage while hiding same from government is also at variance to the policy of the present administration in the State, which places emphasis on accountability, probity and transparency.
“In view of this and the determination not to protect any office holder who soiled his or her hand in corruption, the Governor has directed for the immediate suspension of the Chairman and he has been handed over to operatives of the Directorate of State Security Service for further investigations and possible prosecution if enough grounds are found for that.”
By Timothy Enietan-Matthews….
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