By Our Reporter
The Ebonyi State commander of the Nigerian Hunters and Forest Security service, NHFSS, Mr. Larry Igwe has denied embezzling over N80 million meant for the recruitment exercise of the service, describing his accusers as jobless people.
It will be recalled that some members of the service had petitioned security agencies in the state accusing Igwe of extorting the amount from intending members of the public interested in the outfit and calling for a probe.
The Governor of Ebonyi State, Rt..Hon Francis Nwifuru, it would be recalled, had approved the recruitment of two thousand six hundred youths into the State command of the service to complement security agencies efforts to fight crimes especially those committed within the forests.
The governor as was gathered, released forty one million, nine hundred thousand naira for the purchase of forms and for other logistics in the recruitment exercise in the state.
A source who spoke to newsmen on condition of anonymity in Abakaliki, for the recruitment exercise, said Igwe went ahead and collected another fifteen thousand naira each from the 2,600 persons, amounting to 39 million naira.
The source said Igwe also collected another fourteen thousand five hundred naira each from another six hundred persons, totaling about eight million seven hundred thousand.
The source revealed that Igwe allegedly collected a total of eight nine million naira, that is currently domicile in his first Bank and FCMB personal account.
it was further gathered that the commander, Igwe has been allegedly extorting money from old members in the name of giving them ranks.
The source, equally accused the commander, Igwe of using part of the money to build houses and bought a Camrry car for himself, and called on the state government and security agencies to arrest and prosecute him for indulging in fraudulent activities.
Reacting to the allegations, Igwe denied the allegations, insisting that the Service has been run within existing regulations and that the allegations were frivolous.
"The allegations are deliberately being orchestrated to bring down the command under me, as the jobless accusers approached me to lend them money from the money released for the recruitment exercise by the governor.
"I refused, and they decided to go about writing petitions against me in other to tarnish my hard earned image.
Igwe confirmed that the governor released the funds for the forms and other logistics, maintaining that he remitted the money to the national secretariat of the service as paid by the governor into the Ebonyi State account of the outfit.
“It was on the 8th of February 2024 that the governor approved the request I made to help improve our numerical strength like other states in the recruitment exercise of the service.
“We are not up to four hundred members and cried to the governor to help us recruit more people and get forms for them to join.
"The governor paid for 2,600 forms for new members and an additional 299 forms for old members who had not paid theirs,"
"The money totals N41 million and was paid to our state account and later disbursed as directed".
"In the paramilitary, you must obey the last order. This money was meant to procure forms; apart from that, other things are involved to give you the expected result,” he said."
"The money they are alleging is N15,300 Let me give you the breakdown: #800 is for photocopy, #1,000 for customized files, #3500 for data capturing and ID card, #10,000 is for medical fitness, that's the money I collected.
"So the issue of car, I have friends and brothers, Uchenna Igwe is a brother and a friend for over 20 years , Camry which is not one of the type of car I dropped , I purchase and ride about 3 privates cars. At my level people can say anything they want to say that I used it to buy a house and a car so how did I get the form. The money I released is with our national headquarters, every material is from there, thank God they didn't say I printed form. If at all what they are saying is true, am I too old to build a house ,they should have told you people what they want , many of them came to me for help in terms of money but I couldn't be of help.
The program have not concluded.". He Stated.
Post a Comment