Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State on Thursday, responded to his Supreme Court victory, declaring that he would probe his predecessors and those who have administered the 21 local government areas.
“I am going to probe past administrations that wrecked the state, from the state down to local council level,” the governor told the crowd of supporters during a reception for him following his return from Abuja after the Wednesday Supreme Court judgement that upheld his election.
The governor, who was again approached by newsmen at Ribasu Square immediately after his speech at the podium, told the newsmen, “I thank almighty Allah for reaffirming our victory at the Supreme Court.
“I have just assured the people that no matter how big you are, if you have served the state yesterday and you have embezzled resources either at the state or local government level, I will soon start to recover the resources of this state embezzled by the last administrations.”
Until the reception for him at the Ahmadu Ribadu Square in Jimeta, Yola, on Thursday afternoon, Fintiri as governor had rarely been heard publicly speaking about probing his predecessors, making Thursday’s pronouncement a surprise to many.
Until now, the closest Fintiri had got to hitting at past governments, especially the one headed by his immediate predecessor, Mohammed Bindow, was May last year, a few days before his inauguration as the governor.
He had as governor-elect said on May 26, while receiving the report of a committee he constituted to study the outgoing government that he was ready to step on toes.
He had said that findings made by the 67-man State Transition Committee revealed a lot of breaches and mismanagement of government funds which needed looking into.
The transition committee, headed by a former federal permanent secretary, Aliyu Ismaila, had said the state had debt obligations totalling N115 billion
