Former Senator Danjuma Tella Laah who represented Kaduna South Senatorial District from 2015 to 2023 at the 8th and 9th Assembly is being accused by the people of the zone of impropriety and unwarranted collection of N390, 000, 000 (Three hundred and ninety million naira), recently, meant for Zonal Intervention Projects and Capital Projects in their zone.
According to the Southern Kaduna Projects in the Appropriation Act 2019 to 2024/Zonal Intervention Programme (ZIP) 2023 document, N190, 000,000 (one hundred and ninety million) was for Zonal Intervention Projects and N200,000,000(two hundred million naira) for Capital Projects, totalling upto N390, 000, 000. He made the collections via Ministries, Departments and Agencies(MDAs) barely 14 months after he lost his seat and as an inactive senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It is on record that the 9th Assembly ended on 11th June 2023, and henceforth, Sen. Laah ceased to be the representative of the people of Southern Kaduna Senatorial District at the Senate. However, to their chagrin, he collected the monies without making any formal declaration as if it was meant for self-aggrandizement.
Some of the projects that the N390M targeted to finance include: construction of Zango-Kataf-Kwali Road (worth N75, 000,000); developing of standard livestock housing for selected livestock species at National Livestock Training Center, Kachia (N17,625,000);
Rehabilitation/Reconstruction Of Kwoi – Kafanchan Road (N200,000,000) and many others.
The people of Kaduna South have decried the inappropriate chanelling of their resources and are challenging the illegalities of such act. They lamented the impractical execution of the said projects as captured in the Kaduna South Senatorial District Projects in the Appropriation Act 2019 to 2024 document/ZIP 2023.
They are perplexed by the ease with which former Sen. Laah accessed and collected these funds on their behalf even when he is no longer their representative at the senate. Since the budget was not made in a personal capacity, but it was generated on behalf of the people of Kaduna South Senatorial District, the monies in question should have been released to the office of the incumbent senator representing the people of Kaduna South Senatorial district and not to an ex-Senator who is not in active capacity.
As it featured in the 2023 budget, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Environment; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Ministry of Science and Technology; Ministry of Trade and Investment; Ministry of Transportation and the senate should be qurried for making payments to a former Senator Laah.
The people of the zone are calling on the Economic and Financial Crime Commission to delve into the matter and ensure that Laah and all the MDAs concerned are held accountable.
