News Editor
Planning committee members of the just concluded Ahmed Tinubu Support Group Conference have dragged the Director General of the Tinubu Support Management Council, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin before the Chairman of the group for alleged mismanagement of funds received for the conference.
Recall that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Support Group Conference aimed at bringing all support groups for the former Lagos governor under one umbrella, held at the international conference centre, Abuja, on January 17, 2022.
In a letter addressed to Senator Abu Ibrahim, Chairman of the Ahmed Tinubu Support Group Management Council (SGMC) and obtained by TMS News, members of the planning committee stated that funds received from different sources for the conference were not accounted for.
Parts of the letter read:
“Our initial constraint was unavailability of funding; hence, the first selected date for the conference, 10th of January, was cancelled pending when funding was available. We were later informed by the DG, Hon. Abdulmuminu Jubril that he received N100M from Kano State, though not enough but was enough to cover initial expenses like paying for the conference hall, food, TV and radio adverts etc while waiting for support from other sources, this led to change of date to the 17th of Jan.2022. Days leading to the event, additional funds were received from the Hon. Speaker, Lagos State Government, and other sources that were not disclosed to the committee members and still shrouded in secrecy. All the funds are still under the care and custody of the Director General Hon. Abdulmuminu Jubril.
“Days leading to the event and the confirmation by the DG, that the anticipated funds were then available to sponsor the event, it was agreed that five (5) delegates each from the 500 verified support groups should be sponsored to the event giving a total of 2500 delegates expected. It was also agreed that each delegate be paid N150,000 for logistics covering transportation, feeding, and accommodation but was later reduced to #100,000 due to the shortage of the available funds to accommodate the budget.
The committee diligently worked with the available information and funds as provided by the DG and to ensure the successful execution of the project without any hitch.
“The DG was in charge of all the disbursements and also in custody of all monies received for the event. Two days leading to the event, all 6 to him to release funds for the adhoc staff, delegates’ logistics, etc. were treated with some level of dishonesty, levity, and non-challant. He continued to dribble us while we waited till 1.00am, a few hours to the event. After a series of messages to him by members of the committees to release funds, he did not respond until 3.19 am in the morning of the event day with the excuse that he slept off. He promised to come to the event centre at 7am to finalize all before the arrival of the first guest. To our greatest surprise, the DG did not show up until 10am, setting the stage for crisis. Sensing failure, we had to commit our personal resources to send to delegates who had no means of transport to enable them to attend the event. On arrival at the event, he said that he was arranging for the monies needed for delegates and others. After the event, the delegates were all over contacting the leadership of CNNi and TSG, after much pressure on him, he agreed that the committee on Contact and Mobilization should follow him to his office at Maitama at about 4.00pm same day. To their surprise, he brought out 3 bags purported to contain N80m; however, after bundle counting, it was only N79m counted in the 3 bags. He requested that the committee should proceed with the available funds while he awaits the balance of N20m being expected. Because this was against the initial plans and also considering the number of people that showed up at the event, the committee decided to share the funds among the 2 leading groups that organized the delegates. CNNi was supposed to receive N80m while TSG was supposed to receive N20m. We agreed that both should receive lesser money based on the proportion of their members. TSG was given N15m through the DGs office, though we later learnt that only N10m was released to TSG by the DG. CNNi got on N64m, which was disbursed to those travelling out of state, whereas those coming from within Abuja and neighbouring states were convinced to go back while their logistics would be transferred accordingly.” The letter said.
The members of the planning committee, in their recommendations, also called on Senator Abu Ibrahim, Chairman of the SGMC, to invite Hon Abdulmumin Jibril to account for all funds received prior and during the conference.
“The DG should be invited to give an account of all monies received and disbursed.
“All outstanding should be paid immediately to minimize the negative propaganda already being sponsored by the DG.
“Restore confidence on the team by ensuring that all out-of-pocket expenditures are paid back and the committee properly restructured to instil transparency and accountability going forward.” The letter concluded.
