John Adams, Minna
Four Armed Men on Wednesday snatched over N50m cash meant for overhead cost of the office of the Secretary to the State Government, Niger state from one of the accountants in the office in Minna the state capital.
The incident occurred at about 11.30am and it is coming exactly one year after a similar robbery took place on 5th August, 2019, when an Accountant with the office of the Head of Service had N9.5million snatched from him by armed men at the entrance gate of the state Secretariat.
It was gathered that the Accountant, accompanied by a junior staff were returning to their office in a Toyota Hillux van after collecting the money from a first generation Bank in Minna but were accosted at a U-turn, less than 20 meters to the office and a police check point.
A source close to the office told our correspondent that “They pointed a gun at them after which they asked for the key to the van. They also asked for the bags in which the money was packed and disappeared into thin air”.
Police Public Relations Officer ASP Wasiu Abiodun when contacted said he was yet to receive the report.
The Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Matane could not be reached for his comment as he did not respond to calls made to his cell phone.
However one of the Permanent Secretaries in the SSG’s office Alhaji Musa Rogo confirmed the story in a telephone conversation with our correspondent but said the money was less than N50million as alleged.
Musa Togo said the money snatched was just N7m which was meant for the payment to a contractor who supplied some grains to the government before the Eid el Kabir sallah celebration.
“We issued a cheque to the contractor but he insisted he wanted cash that is why our people went to cash the cheque for him
“The money does not belong to government it belongs to the contractor if you look at our books we have paid the contractor”Togo declared.
On the 5th of August 2019 exactly one year ago a similar robbery took place at the office of the Head of Service where over N9.5m was taken away from the Chief Accountant of the HoS office.
Also in July 2019, a similar incident occurred when Gunmen snatched N1.9million from the cashier of the state Judicial Service Commission at about 9:00am in Minna, the state capital.
He was equally returning from the Bank when the incident occurred.