Zamfara State Commissioner for Works Rabiu Garba has accused the PDP Gubernatorial candidate Dauda Lawal of making public misleading information about N200b loan allegedly collected by Zamfara State government.
Mr. Garba who stated this during a TV show program of Thunder Blowers in Gusau on Saturday, insisted that for Dauda Lawal to come to the public and stated that Zamfara State government has secured a loan of N200b from a commercial bank is not only laughable but demeaning to his status as former Executive Director of First Bank.
He pointed that by simple arithmetic, “which commercial bank in Nigeria has the capacity to issue a loan of N200b when one compared the entire capitalization of a commercial bank in Nigeria”.
He said to the best of his knowledge, Zamfara State is operating in two distinct commercial banks, namely Zenith Bank and UBA noting that the entire capitalization of these bank is not up to ¼ of the amount allegedly mentioned by the PDP candidate.
“If you noticed what the state government is earning added with the internally generated revenue (IGR) one will wonder what informed the decision of the PDP gubernatorial candidate of Zamfara to come to the public door step and make statements that are considered demeaning to the integrity of his person”.
Rabiu Garba also wondered “how banks can offer loan of N200b to state like Zamfara whose monthly allocation is between the range of N2-N3b or highest N4b and also an IGR of about N200M-N300M; hence there are indicators that guide how commercial banks should issue loan to states.
He said “he was not surprise because Dauda was a student of political science he may not be cautious of figures, noting that as an accountant he knew what was possible when it comes to issue of issuing bank loans to the state”.
Rabiu Garba challenged Dauda Lawal to make public details of the loan allegedly collected by Zamfara State government and from which bank adding that Zamfara people are not as illiterates as he may think.