Yuguda denies leaving N125bn debt for new gov

A former governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, has denied bequeathing to his successor, Governor Mohammed Abubakar, a debt of N125bn as alleged.


Yuguda made the denial even as he warned the new governor not to reverse any decision he met in office.

The former governor, who stated this in a telephone interview with newsmen in Bauchi on Sunday, said that the allegation that he left the huge debt behind was false.

Abubakar had in his maiden broadcast to the people of the state, two days after his inauguration, said that he inherited a debt of over N125bn from the immediate past administration of Yuguda.

But Yuguda on Sunday said, “Any public servant that has worked under me and I handed anything to him and I signed and approved it, that approval is legal and Abubakar has no right to reverse that approval. Also, anything that I allocated to any individual, group or association remains legal so Mohammed Abubakar does not have any right to reverse such.

“If Abubakar thinks he can reverse what I have done, he has made a mistake because I have the right as an executive governor elected by my people to take decision on their behalf, so any person that is aggrieved should go to court.

“The governor should be called to order because he has no right to upturn my own decisions and they don’t have the right to change anything or harass anybody within the state.”

On the N125bn debt, the ex-governor however said all the loans he handed over to Abubakar were not up to N80bn, including the loan he said he inherited from his predecessor, Adamu Mu’azu, the immediate past national chairman of the Peoples democratic Party.

He said, “While I was in office, we paid salaries, provided water, security, and education. We constructed international airport and specialist hospital, among others. When I came into government in 2007, I did not only meet an empty treasury but I met overdraft of N8bn in the account which I inherited from Adamu Mu’azu and I didn’t make noise about it, I did not complain but I started my work as a governor.

“We took a bond from capital market which is N52bn and we completed the airport and the specialist hospital and we also have N7bn arrears of gratuity and N1.3bn of contractor obligation. We inherited about N20bn foreign debt, which is payable in 30 to 40 years, these are the only debt that we know of so if there is any debt apart from this maybe it is Abubakar who has incurred the debt.”

Source: punch