Bashir Ahmad allegedly continued to receive salaries even after resigning as President Muhammadu Buhari’s aide, Peoples Gazette has reported.
According to federal payroll records Peoples Gazette obtained, it said Ahmad received May, June and July salaries in full months after resigning.
Having submitted his expression of interest and nomination forms for the APC House of Representatives ticket on May 11, Mr Ahmad removed his designation — personal assistant to the president on new media — from his Twitter bio, a move that signalled his resignation from the regime.
Mr Ahmad began publicly describing himself as a former aide to the president, including during several campaign stomps in his home Kano state.
But records from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) for federal officials showed Mr Ahmad received millions in salaries for May, June and July under his payroll number 37***1. Mr Ahmad’s monthly salary stood at N1,043,176.88, with his take-home coming to N876,738.37 after statutory deductions, records showed.
Therefore, Mr Ahmad received N3,129,530.64 in illegal salaries for the three months he claimed to have resigned and didn’t work as a federal employee. The illegal payment did not include a miscellany of allowances and federal estacodes attached to Mr Ahmad and other presidential aides.
Federal payroll regulations required immediate deletion of Mr Ahmad’s banking information from the system following acceptance of his resignation by the president in early May. Federal payroll management officials told The Gazette under anonymity that some of the ministers who were compelled by the president to step down from office over their political aspirations had their banking credentials removed immediately.
Mr Ahmad told the media he had returned the salaries received during the period of his resignation but failed to provide evidence of refund.
“I had returned the salaries I received during the period I wasn’t in the office,” Mr Ahmad said in a message Monday evening. He declined a request to supply evidence of his refund of the illegal payments to the federal treasury.
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