Zamfara state governor, Abdulaziz Yari, has denied reports that he diverted 3 million dollars from Paris Club refunds into the construction of a personal hotel in Lagos.
Yari, who is also the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, said in a statement issued on his behalf by NGF’s spokesman, Abdulrazak Barkindo, that he doesn’t even own a piece of land in Lagos.
Barkindo quoted Yari as having said that the claims that he diverted to personal use the various sums of $3m, N500m and another N2.2bn from the N19bn paid his state were false and libelous.
“Reports on Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum making the rounds in some online media which claimed that the “governor is building a $3m hotel from monies stolen from the Paris-London Club refunds to states” give cause for worry.
“The reports contain harmful, damaging and libelous insinuations which remain largely unsubstantiated despite the fact that it attributes the leaks to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission officials in Lagos.
“Governor Abdulaziz Yari has said emphatically that he does not even own a plot of land in Lagos, not to talk of a hotel.
“Governor Yari is not building any hotel in Lagos nor were any monies stolen or embezzled from the Paris-London Club refunds to states or from any other source,” the statement read in part.
