Mahmuda Hassan Tabla, the Chairman of Ningi Local Government Area in Bauchi State, has been suspended from office, according to SaharaReporters.
His deputy, Ibrahim Zubairu will take charge of the affairs of the council.
In a letter signed by Haruna Abdulhamid, the local government 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 local government chairman aided and abetted deforestation in the protected Lame-Burra Forest Reserve.
The investigation uncovered how the 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 serialised 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.
