The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TetFund) Dr Abdullahi Bichi Baffa has been sacked.
Baffa, whose sack came as a surprise to staff, was informed of his sack Monday 21 January when the immediate past Executive Secretary of the Fund, Suleiman Bogoro came to the office with a letter of resumption, according to a source who did not want his name mentioned.
Bogoro has since resumed control over the affairs of the fund as he is right now seated at the office.
A statement from the Ministry of Education, signed by Deputy Director of Information, Bem Goong said: “The Federal Government has approved the re-instatement of Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro as the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).”
According to the statement, Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said the re-instatement of Prof. Bogoro was with immediate effect, with the same terms and conditions as it were in his previous appointment and as stipulated in the TETFUND staff conditions of service.
Prof. Bogoro was the Executive Secretary of TETFUND between April 2014 and February 2016.
Why I was sacked from TETFund – Baffa
But Abdullahi Bichi Baffa, on Wednesday 23 January said that the minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu orchestrated his sack for his refusal to give him bribes.
He said the minister rose against him for his refusal to pay 10 percent kickbacks to contractors working for the minister.
In an interview with BBC Hausa Service monitored in Abuja, Baffa said the minister had written to President Muhammadu Buhari, asking for his sack.
“On Friday night, I was informed at the Presidential Villa that the minister of Education came with a letter reporting me to the president,” the ex-TETFund chief said.
He said that was not the first time “Adamu Adamu reported me to the president, requesting my sack but the president stood his ground and refuse to remove me.”
Baffa said his sources at the presidency told him Saturday night that he was going to be removed.
“I asked what was my offence? They alleged that the offences were inaccessibility, insubordination and speaking to the press without the minister’s permission,” Baffa said.
He said the allegation of inaccessibility was unfounded because the minister knew that I spend more time in the ministry as his technical adviser than in the TETfund office.
He said he has “no regret” for disobeying “the minister’s directives because I cannot sabotage my country.”
He alleged that some “eight months ago, Mallam Adamu Adamu sent one of his biggest contractors to tell me that the minister was angry with me for three reasons.
He claimed that the minister was angry that “TETfund disbursed over N200 billion to universities without remitting the 10 percent kickback, which amounted to N20 billion.
He said he never asked for a kickback from any university. “If any university shows proof of collecting kickback from them, let me be sentenced to death,” he said.
When contacted, a deputy director with the ministry of education, Mr Bem Goong said neither the minister nor the ministry would talk about any issue with Bichi. “We will not join issue with Baffa under any circumstances, whatsoever,” he said.
Sacked TETFUND secretary’s confession confirms corruption in Buhari’s Presidency – PDP
The PDP Presidential Campaign Organization (PPCO) says the confession by the sacked Executive Director of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Dr. Abdullahi Baffa Bichi, that he was fired for refusing to give N200 million, as kick-back, to the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has further exposed the seething corruption in the Buhari Presidency.
PPCO says the revelation did not come to many Nigerians as a surprise and has further vindicated the PDP’s position that the Buhari Presidency is inherently corrupt and thrives on concealment, deception, beguilement, propaganda and lies.
The PPCO had always alerted Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari presides over a sanctuary of treasury looters who, as ministers, Presidential advisers, heads of special Presidential committees, APC leaders and members of President Buhari’s Campaign Council fritter our national resources with reckless abandon under Mr. President’s official cover.
W
e invite Nigerians to note that the Buhari Presidency has not given any reasons for Bichi’s removal. It has not also offered any form of explanation to the huge allegation bordering on corruption against a cabinet minister; a development, which betrays collusion at very high level.
This is especially given the series of corruption entanglement around the Presidency, including the allegations that officials of the Buhari Presidency took N500 million as bribe to reduce the fine imposed on a telecommunication company from N1.03 trillion to N330 billion.
Nigerians have not forgotten the case of the former aide of the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, Mr. Baba Inna, who was arrested in September last year for allegedly receiving N2.5 billion from politicians, businessmen and women on behalf of the First Lady.
This is in addition to the case of Mrs. Amina Mohammed, who while being paraded by the Department of State Services (DSS), last year stated in public that persons close to President Buhari were involved in serial looting under the official cover of the Buhari Presidency. Moreover, we hope this is not one of the conduits through which funds siphoned to finance the alleged involvement of some individuals said to be close to the Buhari Presidency in the N1.032 trillion alleged corrupt acquisitions in 9Mobile and Keystone Bank PLC.
The PPCO therefore calls on President Buhari to end his sanctimonious posturing as Nigerians are already aware that he leads a parade of corrupt and inept leadership that has taken the fortunes of our nation to the abyss.
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