Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secret Reporters
The Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mr Tunde Fowler, may be retained in his office by the presidency after his outstanding performance in the buildup and during the 2019 general election as he has allegedly been found misappropriating and diverting taxpayers’ funds since 2015 with the Villa fully aware that this was carried out in order to fund the 2019 electoral campaign of the ruling political party in the country.
Documents made available to SecretReporters revealed that in readiness to give the FIRS a facelift, the contract which was awarded to Messrs Bouygues Nigeria Limited at a whopping sum of N39,000,000,000 billion (Thirty-Nine Billion Naira) for the construction of an edifice meant to serve as the new headquarters of the Federal Inland Revenue Service by the then President Goodluck Jonathan with the building said to be 85% near-completion may be shrouded in deep secrecy from the corridors of those in charge at the Aso Rock Villa.
The contract which was near completion SecretReporters gathered was however prior to the 2019 general elections, inflated to N85,000,000,000 billion (Eighty-Five Billion Naira) with the kickbacks from the funds running in millions allegedly channeled to the coffers of Fowler under the watchful eyes of the office of the presidency.
Surprisingly, in a bid to be re-elected as the governor of Kaduna State, another arbitrary consultancy contract was awarded to Messrs, Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai and his partners, who received hundreds of millions of Naira in respect to the construction of the FIRS headquarter without any form of appropriation to enable them properly fund the All Progressive Congress (APC) campaign and subsequently used part of the funds to induce vote-buying during the 2019 governorship election in Kaduna state.
In a petition addressed to the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) seen by this online news medium, it was disclosed that the fund allocated for the FIRS headquarter building was allegedly facilitated by Governor El-Rufia without any bidding or procurement subjected to due process and payment made with the full knowledge and approval of the office of the Presidency.
Critics of the APC led Administration of President Muhammed Buhari lament that It is disheartening that the monumental fraud perpetrated by the management of the FIRS has long gone unnoticed by the relevant anti-graft agencies perhaps due to Dr Tunde Fowlers alleged close relationship with the Vice President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo and his long standing romance with those in the corridors of power at the Villa.
