The recent Ebola funds saga unfolding began when one Dr. Davidson George accused some top health officials of fraud and mismanagement of the N1.9 billion Ebola fund.
Daily Independent learnt that plain clothes police officers arrived the Federal Ministry of health, Abuja on Wednesday at about 1pm to arrest the Permanent Secretary, Linus Awute and two others. Other officials penciled down for interrogation, and possible prosecution, in connection with the Ebola fund include the chief executive officer/national coordinator of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Prof. Abdulsalam Nasidi; director, Emergency Health Response, John Akintunde Kehinde; and the team leader of the Nigerian volunteers and deputy head of the ASEOWA mission, Joshua Obasanya, who is out of the country on official assignment.
However, workers of the ministry prevented the police from whisking the men away, as they followed the group to the car pack and blocked them.
At a point the workers ordered the private security guard to lock the gate so that they would not be able to go out.While this was going on, Assistant Superintendent of Police, John Eleke, attached to the Federal Secretariat, approached the team from Police Headquarters and pleaded that they should allow the arrest go through proper channels to avoid chaos.
The police team, led by one Inspector Adamu, from the Analytical Tracking and Interception unit, under the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) monitoring team, explained that they decided to effect the arrest of the ministry officials because they had refused to honour an earlier invitation for them to come to the station to answer to some questions.
A 15-page document obtained by reporters gave a complete breakdown of how the amount was allegedly spent.
According to the document, the procurement of isolation tents gulped N900 million. An expenditure payment voucher dated 11/8/2014, being personal advance granted one Musa A.A., was also initiated by Kehinde, director, environmental health, head of health emergency response and disaster, for the release of N28,220,000 for the decontamination of First Consultant Hospital, Obalende, Lagos.
Nasidi, the document showed, withdrew N63,581,250, claiming it was meant for pre-departure training of Nigerian volunteers who left the country on December 5, 2014 for Liberia and Sierra Leone.
However, the document claimed that the African Union Commission paid for all the expenses.
The document also claimed that on 23/12/2014, N30,769,000 was withdrawn from the Ebola account. The payment was made to Musa A. Musa in Abuja and was alleged to be for a treatment research group on Ebola.
A further breakdown of the expenses in the document showed that Nasidi, whose office is in Asokoro, with residence in Abuja, collected N250,000 as local running per kilometre.
He also collected N216,000 as airfare for a meeting which held within Nigeria and N375,000 as sitting allowance.
According to the document, the procurement of isolation tents gulped N900 million. An expenditure payment voucher dated 11/8/2014, being personal advance granted one Musa A.A., was also initiated by Kehinde, director, environmental health, head of health emergency response and disaster, for the release of N28,220,000 for the decontamination of First Consultant Hospital, Obalende, Lagos.
Nasidi, the document showed, withdrew N63,581,250, claiming it was meant for pre-departure training of Nigerian volunteers who left the country on December 5, 2014 for Liberia and Sierra Leone.
However, the document claimed that the African Union Commission paid for all the expenses.
The document also claimed that on 23/12/2014, N30,769,000 was withdrawn from the Ebola account. The payment was made to Musa A. Musa in Abuja and was alleged to be for a treatment research group on Ebola.
A further breakdown of the expenses in the document showed that Nasidi, whose office is in Asokoro, with residence in Abuja, collected N250,000 as local running per kilometre.
He also collected N216,000 as airfare for a meeting which held within Nigeria and N375,000 as sitting allowance.
Hmmm....I wonder when we will have true accountability in Government. And for the workers who were blocking the gate, I wonder if their sense of judgement is being clouded by "Fayose's rice." Lol...
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