The Acting Director of Administration and Finance, Energy Commission of Nigeria, Mr. Peter Chigbo, has been relieved of his duties following his decision to stay away from his office for fear of assassination, SUNDAY PUNCH has gathered.
Chigbo had raised the alarm of assassination threats and kidnapping by people he alleged were working within the commission.
He said he received text messages on his phone that someone wanted to assassinate and kidnap him.
In a July 7, 2011, letter to the Director General of the State Security Service, Abuja, Chigbo wrote, “Eight men who claimed they were from the office of the SSS came looking for me on July 7 and the visit was repeated on July 11, but I was not around.”
Our correspondent learnt that in another letter to the Director General of the ECN, Prof. Sani Sambo, Chigbo had requested adequate security and a printout of the closed circuit television footage of the strange visitors who claimed to have come from the SSS.
“I have been advised to stay away from the office until the riddle about the assassins is solved and adequate security provided in the office,” Chigbo wrote in the letter to the DG.
Chigbo further said rather than providing him with adequate security, he was relieved of his duties by the DG.
He also alleged that he was sacked because of his disagreement with Sambo over the way the commission’s funds were managed.
Sambo, it was however learnt, had detailed two senior officials to accompany Chigbo to the SSS, but Chigbo reportedly refused to go with them.
Sambo told SUNDAY PUNCH that he had directed Chigbo to report the situation to the SSS because he too had suffered death threats and had relied on the SSS for assistance.
He said the closed circuit television footage could not be played back as Chigbo requested because it had no recording facility.
Sambo further told our correspondent in the presence of his special assistant, Mr. Saheed Hayatu, that Chigbo was removed as a signatory to the commission’s accounts because he stopped coming to work.
Hayatu then said, “We suspended him. We are guided by rules and regulations. We cannot ground government activities because of one person. The DG directed that two of the most senior officers in the finance department replace Chigbo as signatories. Before the change of signatories was made, he had not come to the office for 20 days.”
He denied that Chigbo was removed as a signatory to bring in the cronies of the DG.
By Olamilekan Lartey Courtesy Of: Punch
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