Senator representing APC Kaduna Central in the Senate, Shehu Sani on Wednesday explained how and why a fellow senator, Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa-APC) was removed as chairman of the Northern Senators Forum.
Sani said about N70 million belonging to the group was claimed to have been carted away by monkeys in a farmhouse.
Recall that Adamu’s removal was announced in a letter read by the presiding officer, Ike Ekweremadu, shortly before the end of the plenary on Wednesday.
The letter signed by the forum’s Public Relations Officer, Dino Melaye, noted that Adamu was removed for ‘financial mismanagement and misadministration.’
Responding to questions on why the senator was removed, Mr. Sani said the financial mismanagement borders on a N70 million belonging to the forum.
He said the money was rumoured to have been carted away by monkeys in a farm house.
In his words: “There are some things some of my colleagues will not say but I’m not used to holding back. When we assumed office, Senator Ahmed Lawan tendered the sum of N70 million to the 8th Senate. That N70 million was money gathered from the 7th Senate. It was handed over to northern senators of 8th Senate. The rumours going round, which I don’t know whether it’s true but I believe other senators know, is the fact that there were allegations that some monkeys raided the farm house of some of the executives of the northern senators forum and carted away some of these money.
“I think, this country is becoming a huge joke. First of all, it was the rodents that drove away the president and then we now have snakes consuming about N36 million and now we have monkeys raiding farm house. So, they don’t want this to be said but I believe that we should be very clear.”
He, however, didn’t mention whose farm house it is among the executives.
Speaking on the change, Dino Melaye said the decision was that of the majority in the forum.
“All I will just say is simply that the decision of the majority of the Northern Senators Forum is that they want to have a change of leadership. The allegations investigated and found out to be true is that there was financial mismanagement. Monies were spent without the consent of members or the excos. The organisation is becoming moribund and we need to inject some vibrancy in the organisation,” he said.
He declined to comment on the N70 million allegation.
The embattled senator also declined to speak on the allegation. He told journalists he would speak at an appropriate time.
