Sunday, January 25, 2015

VARIOUS CORRUPT PRACTICES OF FORMER MINISTER OF STATE FOR HEALTH; WHO IS NOW CAMPAIGNING FOR ELECTION AS SENATOR UNDER ADAMAWA CENTRAL SENATORIAL DISTRICT UNDER (PDP). Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health, Dr. Idi Aliyu Hong seems to be a man that can’t live without scandal if the latest information coming out on him is anything to go by. While the young minister is yet to come out clean on the allegation that he bought a N300 million mansion in Utako area of Abuja, he has again been accused of ‘stealing’ government vehicles for his 2011 governorship ambition in his Adamawa home state. Late last year, Hong was accused of paying N300 million for a property located at plot 331 Utako district in Abuja barely a year after he was appointed a minister of the federal republic. The lid was blown off the deal when the minister allegedly failed to pay some agents who introduced the property to his aide, their own fee. The minister was however said to have set security agents after the property merchants for trying to blackmail him. He was also said to have confirmed that he bought the mansion but with a loan from a bank which is the usual defence tactic of many officials caught in a similar web after they would have struck a deal with their bankers for a fee. While Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, EFCC is yet to let the minister off the hook of its searchlight on the source of the money used to buy the mansion, iReports-ng’s investigations have revealed that Hong has been fighting yet another battle with some officials of the National Museum and Monuments Commission. The officials under the aegis of concerned staff of the Commission revealed that while the present Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Adetokunbo Kayode and Hong were minister and minister of state for Culture and Tourism respectively, “the parastatal was asked to supply cars for the exclusive use of the minister and the minister of state. That was done with the understanding that after their appointment they return the cars.” According to the officials, “one of the cars given to Hong, a Toyota corolla has an engine number 2933678 and chassis number JTDBR 22e703217112. After Kayode was reassigned to ministry of labour, he returned his cars, while Hong who we are made to understand is interested in future elections has refused to return his own.” Beside the Toyota car, Hong is also being accused of keeping another Honda Accord car which belongs to the Commission. The officials alleged that he had taken the vehicles to Adamawa state to keep as part of preparation of logistics for his gubernatorial ambition in the next election year. The aggrieved workers have threatened to drag Hong before the EFCC if he fails to return the vehicles he inappropriately took away from the Commission. Investigations by iReports-ng revealed that what Hong is being accused of is a common corrupt practice among ministers. It was gathered that ministers in Nigeria have the habit of forcing agencies and parastatals under their supervision to put some cash together for their (ministers’) welfare package especially when they just get into a new ministry while they equally demand vehicles from these agencies as gifts. A minister who was just removed from a very important ministry is said to have received over 20 of such car gifts from agencies under his ministry. Suspecting that security agents may go after him after his sack from his juicy ministry, the minister was said to have hurriedly transferred the vehicles mostly assorted jeeps to the homes of relatives and friends for safe keep and take away the prying eyes of security agents from him. Source - http://ireports-ng.com/2010/03/07/minister-of-state-for-health-idi-hong-in-another-corruption-scandal/ http://ireports-ng.com/

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