Governor Masari of Katsina State

Alhaji Nasiru Ingawa, a former Special Adviser on SURE-P to the former governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Ibrahim Shema, said on Wednesday that part of the State SURE-P funds were used for campaign for the 2015 election.

Ingawa disclosed this in Katsina during cross-examination before the Katsina State Judicial Commission of Inquiry chaired by Justice Muhammad Surajo, .

Nasir told the commission that a total of N5.7 billion was withdrawn in cash and he was among the signatories to the SURE-P accounts during the period.

He said: “Shema used to tell me: `Nasiru, bring the money I approved for you in a memo to my house in the night, we are going to use it for politics.’”

According to him, the former governor made it clear that “all purchases in the department will be made directly and in cash without going through the tenders’ board”.

He said the former governor would instruct him to take the cash directly to the permanent secretary, Government House.

Ingawa told the commission that he had always warned the ex-governor against bypassing the tenders board.

He also explained that some of SURE-P programmes were partially implemented while others were not implemented at all.

He cited an example of the empowerment programme in which cash was to be given to 200 indigents in each of the 34 local government areas of the state as one of those partially implemented programmes.

He, however, noted that the actual amount given to each person was N20,000.

“For the programmes that were partially implemented, half of the money went to the programme, while the remaining amount went to the governor,’’ Nasiru said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the commission was set up by Gov. Aminu Masari to investigate alleged misappropriation of SURE-P funds during the tenure of Shema.

The Chairman of the commission adjourned continuation of cross-examination until Aug. 25. (NAN)