Police Quiz Ousted Adamawa Acting Governor, Fintiri Over Contract Scam

Speaker of the Adamawa state house of assembly and ousted acting governor of the state, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri was on Friday, October 24, 2014 invited for questioning by police detectives from force headquarters, Abuja over allegations of contract inflation.

Vanguard reports that the detectives arrived Yola, the Adamawa state capital and quizzed Fintiri for four hours alleging that he had awarded contracts for projects in Michika and Nadagali in the state, which have been under the control of Boko Haram insurgents since August. He is also accused of inflating the contract for electrification of stret light in Yola from N283 million to N2.3 billion, adding that  several other contracts awarded  during his brief tenure were not in line with due process.

Fintiri came to the detectives with a large amount of files, after which he was released following hours of questioning.

Adamu Kamale, the Adamawa state house of assembly committee chairman on information made the development public saying: “There is a petition by a faceless person alleging among others that the Speaker spent N2.8 billion for Jimeta streetlight project. The real issue on ground is that the contract was awarded at the cost of N283 million. The policemen who said they were from the Inspector General of Police were shown the documents of the contract other documents to counter the allegations in the petition”

“ Some people are out there to tarnish the image of Fintiri knowing full well that he has done excellently well. This must be stopped; he is supposed to be honored for a job well done as acting governor.  For instance, the street light project was awarded by past administration at the cost of N1.8 billion but luckily for the people of Adamawa the money was not paid until Fintiri came in and review it downward to N283 million “, Kamale added.

He concluded by saying some politicians were scared of Fintiri’s rising credentials and were plotting to tarnish his image.