Bloated Civil Service: Former Gov Ayade’s aides trade accusations over staggering fraud

New information has surfaced regarding alleged financial malpractices involving key aides to former Governor Ben Ayade, along with a surge in monthly wage bills. This revelation coincides with the recent dismissal of Uko Inaku, the former chairman of the Cross River State Civil Service Commission, by Governor Bassey Otu. In Inaku’s place, Maurice Effiwat has been appointed.

The former aides implicated in the controversy have engaged in a public exchange of counter-accusations.

Former Auditor General of the State, John Odey, initially shed light on financial mismanagement and allegations of fraud involving former Head of Service, Ogbang Akwaji, and former Accountant General of Cross River State, Mr. Joseph Adie.

During a widely broadcast radio interview, Odey raised significant concerns and posed several questions to the aforementioned former officials.

Odey alleged that Adie, the former accountant general, arranged a loan of N3 billion on behalf of the state in 2016 for the Ministry of Social Housing to construct affordable housing. However, when Governor Ayade discovered exorbitant hidden bank charges, he demanded the return of the loan, which Adie failed to comply with. Subsequently, an additional unsolicited loan of N2 billion was credited to the same account in 2018, leading to Fidelity Bank illegally deducting interest on unused loans.

Furthermore, Odey revealed that upon briefing the ex-governor, consultants were hired to ascertain the total amount unlawfully withdrawn from the state’s account, with Bestwort Consulting identifying N1.4 billion and Lija Agro Consultants identifying approximately N875 million.

Additionally, the former Accountant General hastily closed the account in June 2022 following a query from the Auditor General in September 2022. Only a meager sum of N41,500,000 was refunded to the government account.

Adie was also accused of disbursing funds to ghost workers within the state’s payroll.

Odey didn’t spare former Head of Service, Mr. Akwaji, questioning the sudden surge in the state workforce to 54,000 despite numerous retirements. Allegations were made against Akwaji for attempting to embezzle N50 million from the Ministry of Biodiversity and Forestry Commission, with instructions to refund the money within 48 hours.

During an interview, Akwaji refuted the claims, attributing the workforce discrepancies to the Auditor General’s practices. He explained the historical payroll process and noted discrepancies between the payroll and the Nominal Roll, emphasizing that the Auditor General refused to reconcile the two.

Akwaji denied the other allegations and cautioned against using the media to spread unfounded claims.

Former Accountant General, Adie, maintained that only the ex-auditor general holds the answers to the inflated workforce, asserting the integrity of his records.