The Taraba Integrity Network has challenged the evidentiary basis of a recent SaharaReporters report linking financial transactions involving the Executive Secretary of the Taraba State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Echuseh Audu, to alleged diversion of relief materials.
In a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Umar, the group said the transactions cited in the report did not establish that Audu diverted relief materials or misappropriated public funds.
The organisation particularly disputed the claim linking N44m paid to Nizamiye Hospital, Abuja, to the treatment of alleged Audu’s daughter, who reportedly later died.
The group said the deceased was not Audu’s daughter and challenged SaharaReporters to publish hospital records, birth records or other documentary evidence establishing the alleged relationship.
It also questioned the connection between the N44m hospital payments and the earlier allegations of diverted TSEMA relief materials, asking for evidence showing that proceeds from any alleged diversion were used to make the hospital payments.
On the N12.19m transaction involving the Taraba LPRES Draw Down Account and Katuka’s Kitchen, the group noted that the exact N12,190,726.80 reportedly transferred to the business was subsequently returned to the LPRES account.
The organisation said the transaction, without further evidence, did not establish wrongdoing and asked whether it was a contract payment, reimbursement, erroneous transfer or temporary transaction that was later reversed.
The group also rejected the aggregation of different transactions into N49.44m, arguing that the mere addition of transactions involving personal, business and government-related accounts did not establish that they formed one financial scheme.
‘An inflow is not automatically government money. Government money is not automatically diverted money. And a financial transaction is not automatically evidence of fraud,’ the statement said.
The group further challenged the significance attached to Audu’s alleged BVN connection to Katuka’s Kitchen, saying a BVN association alone did not establish continued control of the account after her reported resignation from the business.
The organisation therefore asked SaharaReporters to produce bank mandates, signatory records and transaction authorisations if it was alleging that Audu continued to control the account.
The organisation also pointed to what it described as the unconfirmed nature of the earlier allegations of TSEMA relief-material diversion, saying such allegations should not be presented as facts while they remained subject to investigation or judicial proceedings.
The Taraba Integrity Group said the people of Taraba deserved accountability but also accuracy, urging SaharaReporters to publish the documentary evidence linking the transactions to diversion, fraud or personal enrichment. It warned against what it described as ‘trial by headline,’ insisting that allegations should remain allegations until supported by evidence.