Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed has publicly accused his former Secretary to the State Government, Ibrahim Muhammad Kashim, of fraud, confirming an investigation by WikkiTimes that documented how billions of naira disappeared under the guise of security-related spending at the SSG’s office.
Speaking during an interview on Channels TV, the governor said his former SSG “was fraudulent,” explaining that the discovery of financial irregularities informed his decision to remove him from office.
The governor’s statement confirms WikkiTimes investigation documenting the disappearance of public funds.
WikkiTimes found that, in just six months, the Office of the Secretary to the Bauchi State Government, under the leadership of Ibrahim Kashim, spent ₦29,627,828,398.53 on overhead expenditure alone—more than three times its approved ₦9.152 billion budget for the entire 2024 fiscal year.
An examination of the state’s budget performance reports showed that ₦9,678,128,566.75 was spent between January and March 2024, and ₦19,949,699,831.78 between April and June. In both the first and second quarter reports, there was no indication that the state formally reviewed or adjusted the office’s allocation to legitimise the excess spending
Another analysis by WikkiTimes documented additional ₦67.39 billion in security vote spending.
Traditionally, the Office of the Secretary to the State Government holds a powerful administrative role in Nigerian state governments and is often used as a conduit for large security-vote disbursements. Such funds, intended to address security challenges, are typically shielded from detailed public scrutiny or routine audit—conditions that experts say make them especially vulnerable to abuse.
Governor Mohammed’s remarks now explicitly tie his own assessment of Ibrahim Kashim to the documentary evidence published by WikkiTimes that documented the opaque security vote spending is used to allow for the disappearance of public funds with little accountability.
