From Asile Emmanuel, Jos
Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in Plateau State, Hon. Dayabu Garga, has explained that some top local government officials in the state were suspended for alleged “financial recklessness” .
The commissioner said that the decision to suspend the affected officials was backed up by a report submitted by an investigation committee set up by former Governor Jonah Jang’s administration to dig into alleged financial recklessness in the local governments.
Those affected by the suspension order included all the Directors of Personnel Management (DPMs), Directors of Finance and Accounts (DFAs) as well as cashiers of the 17 local governments.
Also suspended are some auditors, some Deputy DPMs, Deputy DFAs and the heads of works and agriculture departments of some of the local governments.
The commissioner said that the officers were first queried before the suspension, describing the exercise as “interdiction”.
He explained that “the suspended officials were queried, based on their individual responses to the queried had been placed on half salary pending the final determination of their cases.
“We are still investigating individual cases to ascertain the level of involvement of each officer; those cleared will be recalled while those found wanting will be sacked,” he added.
Garga did not disclosed the number of persons affected in the exercise but tentatively said virtually all the seventeen local governments in the state were involved.
He however denied the rumour making the round that their suspension was politically motivated
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