Ningi Local Government Chairman, Mahmuda Hassan Tabla has been suspended from office, and his deputy Ibrahim Zubairu will take charge of the affairs of the council.
In a letter signed by Haruna Abdulhamid, the LG Secretary cited atrocities bordering on deforestation, incompetence and lack of consultations in conducting the affairs of the council as reasons for the suspension.
WikkiTimes had in an investigation revealed how the LG Chairman aided and abetted deforestation in the protected Lame-Burra Forest Reserve.
The investigation uncovered how Ningi local government chairman through a well-connected syndicate, sold out greater portions of the Lame-Burra Forest Reserve to tree fellers and strangers, thereby making a lot of illegal money in the process under the pretence of having permission to that effect from the governor.
The serialized investigations documented how Tabla in alleged connivance with local officials also backed the Coalition of Burra Herders/Farmers Forum for massive felling of trees in the forests.
WikkiTimes also uncovered how the Coalition of Burra Herders/Farmers Forum led by Uba Ahmad, an Imam of JIBWIS Mosque in Burra which was initially formed to help farmers get more land allocations from the LGA for farming purposes turned into a surrogate body for the illegal land allocations.
After the investigation, the state government revoked all the illegal land allocations in the Lame Burra Game Reserve.
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In another separate investigation, WikkiTimes found that despite the warning issued to the Chairman over allegations of illegal land allocation, felling of trees for commercial gratifications at the reserve, the Chairman continued with his illegal business.
Not only that, he allegedly connived with the Nigerian Police Force Division in Ningi local government area to invite Sadam Mato Burra, a stringer with WikkiTimes, after sharing comments on Facebook where Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed vowed to punish Mr Tabla over alleged complicity in dubious land selling unearthed by this medium.
The Chairman also allegedly hired “social media warriors” to launched an attack on WikkiTimes, “aimed at discrediting its reporting”, our correspondent reports.
With the suspension placed on the Chairman, the LG Secretary says another investigation against him will commence.
“Based on the above, the council hereby suspends you until other investigations are carried out by other relative bodies”, the suspension letter read in part.
