Group exonerates top Delta state govt official from corruption allegations
- A top government official in Delta state has been exonerated from corruption allegations
- A group, Competent Governance For Accountability And Civic Trust, said the allegations are false
- The group went on to provide evidence for its stance over the allegations
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A group, Competent Governance For Accountability And Civic Trust (CGACT), has exonerated a top government official in Delta state from corruption allegations.
Convener of CGCAT, Ambassador Godwin Erheriene decried the campaign of calumny against Mr. Edwin Ogidi Gbegbaje, permanent secretary and director of protocol Delta state Government House, Asaba at a press briefing attended by a Legit.ng reporter on Wednesday, January 27.
Ambassador Erherience also called on those media houses to verify their reports before publishing them for public consumption.
Source: Twitter
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His words:
“We hereby wish to bring to the attention of the public the unfounded allegation against the person of Mr. Edwin Ogidi Gbegbaje, permanent secretary and director of protocol Delta state Government House, Asaba.
“Based on our findings, the allegations that he single-handedly performed the functions of MDAs is totally misleading and geared towards defaming the officer.
“We all know the procedures awarding government contracts at all levels of government, be it, local, state, or federal. All contracts have to go through government bureaucracy, which means the contract has to be verified from one office to another for proper government scrutiny, and accountability.
“It’s apparent that there are some disgruntled officials within the government house who are working against the interest of the state.
“However, we all know the protocols in government, as permanent secretary in MDAs are the accounting officers and required by rules to sign a cheque and disburse funds.
“The permanent secretary does not have the required prerequisite to approving the project neither does the office draw up Bill Of Quantities (BOQs)/Bill of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation (BEME) all this requires the inputs and reports from respective MDAs as the case may be.”
The group queried the accusers of Gbegbaje, wondering how the office of the permanent secretary and directorate of protocol, can single-handedly carry out all the activities he was accused of.
In a related development, the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) has said that contrary to a recent media report, there were no illegitimate payments into private accounts of individuals in the agency as alleged other than legitimate payments made to staff members to carry out official duties.
This was contained in a statement signed by the spokesman, Sadiq Isa on Thursday, December 17, and sent to Legit.ng.
Isa further said that if there were to be anything untoward in the payments they would not be on the federal government treasury open payment platform.
Meanwhile, Justice E. A. Ashade of the Lagos State High court, sitting in Tafawa Balewa Square has struck out a N167,886,591,60 theft charge preferred by the police against an Oyo state local government council official, Badmus Adesina, and a lawyer, Ibukunoluwa Konu.
Justice Ashade struck out the charge with No: LD/11439C/2020 and discharged Adesina and Konu after a Director of Public Prosecution's (DPP) report stated they have no case to answer.
Source: Legit.ng
