the Clearing of Account for which funds have been utilized for these payment and procurements. The items procured as per Approval are:” The Defendant then listed out a Total of Fifteen Items Procured, the Quantity, the Amount per Quantity and the Total for each Item and the Grand Total of Approval was the Sum of N319, 017, 250. From this Sum of N319, 017, 250, it shows that from what Chief Joshua Dariye had loaned in the Sums of N204Million and N53.6Million to the Plateau State Government, and what he had been Reimbursed, was a Part-Payment and not Full-Payment. Therefore, Plateau State Government still owed him Money. Now, from the above Excerpts of the Defendant’s Extra-Judicial Statement, Two Questions shoot out. One, is the Fact of an Approval and the Second, is the Fact of the Reimbursements of the Advances in the Sums of N204Million and N53.6Million granted to Plateau State Government from his Ebenezer Retnan Ventures Account. On the Question of Approval, culling from the Testimony of PW5, Mr. Cyril Tsenyil, the Accountant General of Plateau, where he stated that for any Public Expenditure, a Payment Voucher is raised and the Final Approver is the Executive Governor, after Due Process and Appropriate Channels have been followed. Further, where the Procurement is through a Loan, this Witness had stated the First Port of Call to be the Executive Governor through a Memo raised by the Relevant Agency. In other words, either a Memo, or a Copy of the Memo containing the Executive Governor’s Approval would be in the Custody of the Direct Labour Agency, the Borrower for Record Purposes. Therefore, the Court expected either the Memo or Copy of the Memo seeking a Loan and the Approval of the Loan from the Defendant to the Direct Labour Agency be tendered by the Defence and not the Handing Over Note, which says nothing in regard to a Loan or how the Items in the Handing Over Note were purchased or procured. The Prosecution’s Contention through its Witnesses, particularly PW1, Detective Musa Sunday and PW5, the Accountant General, is to the effect that NO Payment Voucher exists as Proof of any Loan or Contract with the Defendant, in his capacity as Executive Governor of Plateau, either Personally, or through Ebenezer Retnan Ventures, into whose Account, these Sums of N204 Million and N53, 600, 643. 056, belonging to the Office of the Accountant General of Plateau State, were paid into. The evidence of these Witnesses remained unchallenged by the Defence. Since according to the Defendant there was an Approval, the burden was on him to produce his Approval. It is certain that an Approval of this nature would obviously be in Writing and would have been Public Knowledge or in the Public Domain to all Citizens of Plateau State. More so, an Approval in hand, would certainly have served as a Collateral Security for his own benefit, in the event the Government of Plateau State fails to pay him back his Money. However, there is a Resounding and Excruciating Silence as to the fact that Approval emanated from either the Defendant or through his Witness. Further, since it was stated that the Technical Committee had inspected the Equipment before it was bought, it can only mean that the Inspection took place in Year 1999 and not Year 2000. It can also ONLY logically mean, that the Defendant paid for the Equipment in Year 1999. The Earliest Delivery Date was the 30th of October 1999. The Latest Delivery Date was the 13th of December 1999. 183