By Emmanuel Awari-Jalingo
The Taraba State Commissioner of information, Barr. Zainab Usman Jalingo is currently battling to absolve herself of alleged diversion of N10 Million meant for home based and visiting Journalists for the coverage of Governor Kefas defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It was gathered that Zainab and other members of the media and publicity committee headed by the Commissioner, allegedly earmarked N10 million as welfare for the Journalists but the Commissioner allegedly singlehandedly diverted the money.
It was futher gathered that key decisions on media engagement and logistics for the event were allegedly taken by Barr. Zainab Usman Jalingo without the full participation of several other committee members.
Sources familiar with the planning process told our correspondent that, three national television stations were initially proposed to provide live coverage of the politically significant event, only one station was eventually engaged while over N14 million meant for the other two televisions stations developed wings.
The decision, according to the sources, was neither formally communicated nor justified to other committee members, a development that reportedly caused disquiet among stakeholders within the media community.
More significantly, media practitioners covering the event alleged that the ₦10 million reportedly approved as welfare support for home-based and visiting journalists was not disbursed, as the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Agbu Kefas, Yusuf Sanda told journalists who called at his office that nothing was given to him for the media.
Several journalists interviewed claimed that no clear explanation was provided regarding the status of the funds, raising concerns about transparency in the management or whereabouts of the funds allocated for the exercise.
Further inquiries indicated that no publicly verifiable records detailing the approval, allocation, or disbursement of the said funds were made available to other members of the committee, as the commissioner allegedly boasted that “even the Governor Agbu Kefas cannot question me” over the whereabouts of the funds.
Some individuals close to the committee alleged that the commissioner exercised dominant control over the media arrangements, citing her perceived proximity to the seat of power.
These sources claimed that the concentration of decision-making authority may have weakened internal checks within the committee.
Repeated attempts by journalists to obtain official clarification from the Information commissioner the whereabouts of the N10 million meant for journalists for the coverage of the event could not yield positive results as the commissioner has remained elusive.
Investigation reveals that last Saturday’s allegations of diversion of funds meant for journalists by the information commissioner was not the first time.
It was alleged that the commissioner had in the past diverted millions of Naira meant for journalists and media coverage .
Recall that the behavior of the Commissioner has led to the boycott of State Government activities by journalists who had called on the Governor, Dr Agbu Kefas to remove the commissioner from office until the timely intervention of well meaning stakeholders in the state.
All efforts made to reach Barr. Zainab Jalingo, commissioner of information for her comment proved abortive as she has not responded to all calls put across to her line.