The Benue State House of Assembly has directed the Commissioner of Youths, Sports and Creativity, Mr. Terkimbi Ikyange, to within seven days terminate the contract for the renovation of Aper Aku Stadium awarded to Monimichelle Sports Facility Construction for breach of contractual agreement.
The House has equally directed the Attorney General of the State to immediately institute a legal action against the contractor with the view of recovering funds he collected from the state government without executing the project.
Speaker, Mr. Aondona Dajoh who issued the order on Tuesday after hearing from the Commissioners of Youths, Sports and Creativity, and the Attorney General of the State, lamented that for the fourth time, the contractor has refused to honor the invitations of the House and two of its Standing Committees
He announced that the Assembly would write to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to prosecute Monimichelle Sports Facility for defrauding the state.
Similarly, the Speaker directed that all staff of the Ministry of Works, Housing and Urban Development that are accomplices in the alleged fraudulent inflation of the contract sums should appear before the House.
Earlier, the Commissioner of Youths, Sports and Creativity, Mr. Terkimbi Ikyange lamented that despite collecting over N1.3 billion, the contractor has abandoned the project having carried out about 40% of the work.
Ikyange added that contrary to the contract agreement, the two months duration of the contract has since elapsed while Monimichelle Sports Facility Construction was nowhere to be found.
On his part, the representative of the Attorney General, who is the State Solicitor-General, informed the House that since the contractor has failed to meet up with the contractual agreement, the contract has elapsed and in the eyes of the law, the only option was to terminate it and demand refund from the contractor.
