Bola Tinubu, widely known as a drug dealer, as affirmed by the United States of America in 1993, has approved the appointment of Isa Yuguda, the former governor of Bauchi State, as the pro-chancellor and chairman of the governing board of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), despite Yuguda’s involvement in a N212 billion fraud case investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Yuguda’s appointment, along with those of other chairmen and members of governing boards of federal universities nationwide, was announced on X on Friday.
In 2017, Bauchi State accused Yuguda of siphoning state funds through contracts awarded to various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
Notably implicated were the State Universal Basic Education Board, the Ministry of Local Government Affairs, and the Bauchi State Specialist Hospital during his tenure.
Salisu Abubakar, the then Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, stated that many contracts awarded under Yuguda were inflated, incomplete, poorly executed, or not initiated at all despite payments being made.
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Also, in 2017, Justice J. T. Tshoho ordered the EFCC to seize one of Yuguda’s properties in Abuja related to the same fraud case. The anti-graft commission had accused him of withdrawing N1 billion from one of the state’s accounts in a single day.
Meanwhile, Yuduga’s appointment by the president may have been influenced by pressure from a political group known as the Disciples of Jagaban (DOJ).
The DOJ urged Tinubu to appoint the former governor to at least a ministerial position, arguing that he had not held any political office since leaving his previous role and was well-suited for the job.
Yuguda served as the governor of Bauchi State for eight years, from 2007 to 2015. He is also one of 13 former governors against whom the EFCC reopened corruption cases in January 2024.
(FIJ)
