Patrick Ukah, the immediate past Commissioner of Information in Delta state , is currently enmeshed in a case of financial malfeasance running into several millions of naira. Ukah was said to have gone on a bogus spending spree claiming to have purchased cameras and repaired transmitters for the Delta Broadcasting Service, Asaba and Warri.
SaharaReporters reliably learned that Ukah, claimed to have purchased eight cameras for the two state- owned broadcasting outfits at the sum of N18,721,738.00.
However, finding loopholes in Ukah’s claim, the state’s transition committee decided to launch a probe into his supposed financial transactions, confided a member of the committee in our correspondent.
“We received some documents from the commissioner for information, Mr. Patrick Ukah, where huge sums of millions of naira were used to purchased cameras and repairs of transmitters at the Delta Broadcasting Service, Asaba and Warri. The documents shows huge fraud, corrupt and sharp practices to cover up the looting in the two broadcasting houses in Asaba and Warri.
“How can you purchase eight camera for N18.7 million.? As part of our duty, we as a committee had to carry out a market survey on the cameras. The camera make and model is Sony Digital HXR-NX 100 and with our findings, we discovered that one of the cameras is often sold for less than a N500,000 and the commissioner for information claimed to have purchased one each at the sum of N2.3 million by his calculation.
“Ukah also claimed to have bought four tripods and four wireless microphones at the sum of N9,654,750.00 for DBS, Asaba and Warri. This is nothing but outright fraud. In all the documents presented by Ukah to the transition committee shows that, he only succeeded in using the state owned media houses to corruptly and fraudulently amassed wealth to himself without recourse to improving the deteriorating current status of the broadcasting houses.” a member of the committee stated.
One of the Cameras Bought By Ukah
In some of the documents presented by the state commissioner for information, Patrick Ukah to the committee and obtained by SaharaReporters, he claimed to have purchased eight cameras for DBS, Asaba and Warri at the cost of N18,721,738.00, repaired the FM coaxial feeder line at DBS, Warri at the cost of N16,620,000.00, repaired the back-up transmitters at DBS, Asaba, Ubulu-Uku and Warri at the cost of N43,000,000.00, as well as mast tensioning, painting and repairing at the cost of N11,150,000.00.
Continuing with the breaking down of the expenses incurred, the commissioner claimed that he purchased some equipment for DBS, Asaba and Warri, which he failed to name, at the cost of N12,553,750.00, provision and installation of antenna and repairs of another transmitters at the cost of N57,240,000.00, briefed governor Ifeanyi Okowa on the 2017 flood disaster in DBS, Asaba and restoration of the station back to air at the cost of N17,000,000.00, repair of faulty back up transmitters at DBS, Asaba, Ubulu-Uku and Warri at the cost of N68,380,000.00.
Meanwhile as mixed reactions have continued to trail the monumental fraud and corrupt practices linked to the former informer commissioner, some of the addresses of contractors which Ukah claimed to have awarded the millions of naira contracts to, could not be located by our correspondent.
As at the time of filing this report, calls and messages put to the commissioner for information, Patrick Ukah were not responded to, but his Special Assistant on media, Samuel Ijeh, confirmed that the documents obtained by our correspondent were true copies of the documents submitted by his boss to the transition committee, adding that “But we later discovered that there some typographical errors” and when asked why his boss failed to carefully read through all the documents he submitted, Ijeh could not answer.
“We received some documents from the commissioner for information, Mr. Patrick Ukah, where huge sums of millions of naira were used to purchased cameras and repairs of transmitters at the Delta Broadcasting Service, Asaba and Warri. The documents shows huge fraud, corrupt and sharp practices to cover up the looting in the two broadcasting houses in Asaba and Warri.
“How can you purchase eight camera for N18.7 million.? As part of our duty, we as a committee had to carry out a market survey on the cameras. The camera make and model is Sony Digital HXR-NX 100 and with our findings, we discovered that one of the cameras is sold for less than a N500,000 and the commissioner for information claimed to have purchased one each at the sum of N2.3 million by his calculation.
“Ukah also claimed to have bought four tripods and four wireless microphones at the sum of N9,654,750.00 for DBS, Asaba and Warri. This is nothing but outright fraud. In all the documents presented by Ukah to the transition committee shows that, he only succeeded in using the state owned media houses to corruptly and fraudulently amassed wealth to himself without recourse to improving the deteriorating current status of the broadcasting houses.” a member of the committee stated.In some of the documents presented by Ukah to the committee and obtained by SaharaReporters, he claimed to have purchased eight cameras for DBS, Asaba and Warri at the cost of N18,721,738.00, repaired the FM coaxial feeder line at DBS, Warri at the cost of N16,620,000.00, repaired the back-up transmitters at DBS, Asaba, Ubulu-Uku and Warri at the cost of N43,000,000.00, as well as mast tensioning, painting and repairing at the cost of N11,150,000.00.
Continuing, the commissioner claimed that he purchased some equipment for DBS, Asaba and Warri, which he did not name, at the cost of N12,553,750.00, provision and installation of antenna and repairs of another transmitters at the cost of N57,240,000.00, briefed governor Ifeanyi Okowa on the 2017 flood disaster in DBS, Asaba and restoration of the station back to air at the cost of N17,000,000.00, repaired of faulty back up transmitters at DBS, Asaba, Ubulu-Uku and Warri at the cost of N68,380,000.00.
Meanwhile as mixed reactions have continued to trail the monumental fraud and corrupt practices linked to the former information commissioner, some of the addresses of contractors which Ukah claimed to have awarded the millions of naira contracts to, could not be located by our correspondent.
As at the time of filing this report, calls and messages put to the commissioner for information, were not responded to, but Samuel Ijeh, his Special Assistant on media, , confirmed that the documents obtained by our correspondent were true copies of the documents submitted by his boss to the transition committee, adding that “But we later discovered that there are some typographical errors” and when asked why his boss failed to carefully read through all the documents he submitted, Ijeh could not answer.