The committee setup to investigate
the financial dealings in Southern Ijaw Local Government Council under the
leadership of its former chairman, Mr Tiwei Orunimighe has concluded its report
with an  indictment on him and two other
council officials.

The report which recommended
recovery of misappropriated funds and prosecution of the former council
chairman, secretary of the council and the treasurer, accused them of financial
impropriety during the period under review.

Tiwei Orunimighe who was
among five council chairmen sacked by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly is
alleged in the committee report to have been involved in questionable financial
transactions.

The former  secretary and treasurer of the council,
Collins Baker and Quickpen Oseke who were signatories to the council accounts
and through whom “most of these payments were made through cash”, are said to
be collaborators in all the suspicious financial dealings, the report signed by
Edoumiekumo Samuel and six others also alleged.

The committee recommended
that all beneficiaries of questionable payments be invited for interrogation
and made to pay back the funds they received if found wanting while the council
must ensure due process in all future financial transactions.

The council Chairman, Felix
Bonny-Ayah, who incidentally was vice  to the indicted ex-chairman,
while  receiving the committee’s report at the council’s liaison office in
Yenagoa, vowed to implement all the recommendations to the letter.

Bonny-Ayah’s intention to set up
the committee may not be surprising to political watchers of Southern Ijaw  judging by his ‘’cat and dog’’ relationship
with his former boss.

The report which covered the
period from April 2010 to May 2012 noted that there were discrepancies in three
major areas of personnel cost, overhead cost and security cost and called for
enthronement of internal control system to discourage future sleaze in the
council.

According to the report made
available to  journalists in Yenagoa, there were no payment vouchers in
some months “thereby making it difficult for the committee to believe the
competence of the council treasurer. There is the urgent need to verify this
and reconcile the salary figures.”

In the area of overhead
cost, the report said most of the payments were frivolous including several
claims of N1.0 million for the ex-chairman’s trips to Yenagoa as well as several
claims of N10 million by the former political secretary for the chairman’s
logistics without retirement.

On security cost, the report
said sums ranging from N3.0 million to N15 million monthly were collected as
allowance since there were no security breaches and in some instances, the
security vote was collected twice.

Another area where financial
discrepancies were uncovered was capital expenditure which stood at N481.73
million which the committee pointed out “some
payments were on fictitious projects.”