Court arraigns two top Bauchi civil servants for alleged theft

From Paul Orude Bauchi

Two civil servants of Bauchi State Civil Service Commission have been arraigned before a Magistrate court for allegedly stealing N332, 000.

The accused are Nasiru Samaila, Chief Clerical Officer, and Auwal Jibrin, Assistant Clerical Officer of the Ministry of Finance.

A statement by Saleh Umar, the Information Officer for the commission, made available to journalists at the weekend, revealed that the affected officers had been dismissed.

Umar said the two sacked two senior civil servants allegedly stole N332, 000.

He said the duo was arrested by the Police and arraigned before the State Magistrate Court for offences bordering on “serious misconduct, forgery, and diversion of funds.”

The I.O said the decision to sack them was taken at the 18th Plenary Session of the Commission on August 15, 2023.

The statement revealed that the two officers were found guilty of forging documents that enabled them to divert the said amount.

The money belonged to Jibrin Adamu Zalanga, a deceased staff of the Finance ministry, an act that contravenes Section 327 of the Public Service Rules (PSR).

They were said to have admitted to the crime in their responses to queries issued to them individually by the ministry.

The statement quoted the chairman of the commission, Alh. Abubakar Usman, of expressing worry over cases of financial indiscipline in the commission.

Usman enjoined workers  in the state to put the fear of God into the discharge of their official duties.