News Editor
From Dooshima Terkura Makurdi
Legislators in Otukpo local government council of Benue qrw have petitioned the State Governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia and the State House of Assembly over alleged misappropriation of funds, gross misconduct among other heist by the council chairman, Prince Maxwell Ogiri.
The move was necessitated by initial alarm raised by Head of Revenue Department, Mrs Adina Victoria on April 23, 2025 drawing the attention of the legislative house to the chairman’s financial recklessness and the need for authority to call him to order.
Mrs Aduma while raising the alarm, accused the chairman of issuing revenue receipt without due approval by her office, inciting revenue committee against the revenue department and hijacking security levies, which according to her, amounted to abuse of authority.
It is however, on the strength of this development that the legislators, after due diligence, wrote the petition dated June 17, 2025, and also sent to the Benue State Commissioner for Finance as well as Gubernatorial Liaison Officer (GLO) Otukpo, State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the media.
Titled, “Petition Against the Executive Chairman Otukpo LG, Prince Maxwell Ogiri Over Gross Financial Misconduct,” and signed by 11 legislators including Honourables Amodu Philip Anya (Leader), Gloria Adu Harrison, Anthony Godwin, Idega Friday, Agbo Alapa, Otalu Musa Felix, Edit Johnson Onka, Ameh Sunday, Augustine Elaigwu and Aaron Oono, listed a litany of weighty misconducts against the chairman and demanded for his investigation by the various authorities.
The lawmakers further accused the council boss of blackmailing the Governor and using his name to swindled N13 million from 13 councilors by asking them to pay N1 Million each for their electoral appeal court in Abuja, operating illegal online bank account through Alternative bank, illegal printing of revenue receipts, paying internally generated revenue into his personal accounts using PoS belonging to his personal assistant and spending government funds without budgetary approval.
Others are his failure to honour invitations by the legislators to clarify issues bothering on governance, diversion of motorcycles donated by the state governor to ease local security patrol, importing thugs to the council secretariat to disrupt legislative sittings, high hardness and total disrespect for constituted authorities including police and civil defence in the local government area.
“The aggrieved councillors affirmed, “We first believe that the PoS was been used for Revenue Generation for the Local Government but when we verify we discovered that no kobo was remitted to the Local Government Revenue Account but his PA PoS account.
“We consider this as an act of blackmail and casting of negative aspersion on the administration of governor Alia and his image, hence his anti corruption posture which is globally be acknowledged.
“Since our inauguration in October 24, the chairman has consistently ignored financial rules and regulations by spending public funds accruable to the legislative council which contravene section 87, subsection 3 of Benue State Local Government Law 2007.
Concluding the petition, the legislators asserted, “We therefore appeal to Benue State House of Assembly to suspend the chairman and his deputy from office to pave the way for indepth investigation and apportion of appropriation sanctions to serve as a deterrent to others.
It is added, “We are not allowed to sit but the Chairman pocketed our sitting allowance. The other day, he brought over forty(40) thugs to our council hall and disrupted all our sitting. He also prevented us from meeting with a three man- peace committee sent to the local government by the state leadership of the All Progressives Congress after our petition was forwarded to the party calling for intervention.
“He has also embarked on a move to recall the affected councilors who signed the petition against him by lobbying their ward chairmen to suspend them.
“We appeal to all the aforementioned agencies and authorities to embrace justice on the matter to avert continual government of impunity in Prince Maxwell Ogiri as this is the yearning of the whole council citizens.”
Speaking to our correspondent on the matter, the State commissioner for finance and economic planning, Michael Oglegba, confirmed that he has received petition from councilors in Otukpo local government council bothering on financial misconduct involving the council chairman.
He described the allegations as very weighty, adding that he has decided to carry out independent assessment to ascertain the veracity of the documents.
“There is a process to follow in order to treat this kind of petition. As commissioner of finance, I will advise the various authorities including the State House of Assembly to act swiftly.
“The chairman has not call to tell me what is happening. Coincidentally, I’m also from Otukpo LG. So, I only heard this crisis from third party, that there is a total breakdown of law and order at local government area over finances.
“When this document is relate to other parties, the chairman has to come to speak and defend himself. These documents are already in public view and Fr. Alia has zero tolerance for anything that is negative to his administration. Incidentally, I have sent this document to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to act on it. The allegations are weighty and weighty enough for them to take a second look and give advice that could be appropriate.
Meanwhile, when contacted,the embattled Chairman, Prince Maxwell Ogiri indicted the Auditor General for Local Government, whom he claimed gave him the advice to operate the Revenue Accounts with Online Banks.
“Nothing is dangerous to embark on like change. It’s dangerous because the people who are benefitting from the old order, would bring all their arsenals to fight you so that it does not succeed, and the people that would benefit from the new order maybe lukewarm in protecting the new change that is introduced.
“I cannot open a new account for the Local Government. I have no reason not to use any bank, the Zenith Bank as a company are aware of that. But when I discovered that the revenue of any local government is the indices that is used to determine subvention from the federation account, I was determined to step it up.
“In the process of doing that, I have to seek the advice of the auditor general for local government who accepted and advise that, whoever contractor am going to use, must be registered in Benue and must be a tax paying consultant.
“He advised that I either give it to those consultants wholesomely or allow them be in partner with the revenue department of the local government who has the workforce with primary responsibility of collecting revenue.So I allowed different consultants to submit proposals, thereafter I called a town hall meeting where all the traditional rulers, market women, heads of security agents and the members of Revenue department in Otukpo local government were invited and the advice was adopted.
“The first consultant that was selected could not cover the entire revenue points and a new one was brought in, which is the Alternative Bank who suggested opening of a wallet, although not a bank but can serve as a pipe through which monies passes into the main account of revenue of the local government.
“This was not intentionally done to siphon money.So when the system was not functioning properly more than two to three weeks, I got another expertise advice that there is a way Monies Point can be synchronised for payments directly into the main account of Revenue”.
He explained that when the system became operational, he constituted an implementation committee to see to the effectiveness of the machine instead of monies passing through hands.
He denied all the other allegations leveled against him and his administration, describing them as infringement of people’s imagination.
“All these things they are saying does not exist. I know those behind these unfounded allegations . They got all my councilors as willing tools and began to used them. It is unfortunate that people with good intentions, yearning to bring changes are not allowed”, Ogiri stated.
