Stamp Duty Funds: Kazaure seeks Garba Shehu’s clarification on pertinent issues

By Chimezie Godfrey

In furtherance of his recent allegations of embezzlement of Stamp Duties funds and cover ups by officials of the administration, Hon. Gudaji Kazaure, a member of the House of Representatives, has drawn the attention of Nigerians to pertinent questions which Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity should respond to.

In a statement on Monday, Kazaure decried Shehu’s dismissal of the committee legitimately set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NIBSS and other financial institutions.

He therefore seek his clarification on some pertinent issues to erase every doubt in the minds of Nigerians.

He said,”I wish to draw the attention of the general public to a recent statement credited to Mallam Garba Shehu, where he dismissed the committee legitimately set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NIBSS and other financial institutions.

“Ordinarily, I wouldn’t join any issues with Mallam Shehu but I would like him to answer these pertinent questions: was he there when the committee was set up?why was the Committee asked not to work under minister or SGF?

“For the avoidance of doubt, Mr. President directed the Committee to liaise with DSS to work together and personally said non of his appointees should interfere in our activities.

“If the committee Is illegitimate, why is the CBN Governor collaborating with those around the President to prevent me from gaining access?

“As a Nigerian, no law stops me from carrying g out an assignment given to me by the commander in chief of the armed forces.”

Kazaure further stated,”Let me also state it clearly that the membership of the committee cuts across all arms of government including myself from the Legislature, the CJN from the judiciary, and finance insisted from the executive. Other members include the DG SSS, a retired DG of NIA, and retired commissioner of police Muhammad Wakili.

“Finally, I would leave Mallam Shehu with these questions since he questioned the figures we gave earlier:
The money with CBN I & E window Account stood at $171 billion dollars as at 2020 what is the source of that money? The N23.4 trillion Naira CBN gave as loan to some banks, what is the source of that money? The N13 trillion loan to federal government from FMDQ what is the source of that and finally what is the total equity of CBN and its National budget?