Many workers at the office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, are currently confused following her return to work after she was said to have sent her retirement letter to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Oyo-Ota, who had been ill, has been under pressure from the Economic and Financial Crime Commission grilled her for an alleged sleaze.
Buhari was said to have rejected her offer of early retirement as she has also refuted claims she was involved in scam.
A report in ‘The Nation’ had said:
“Preliminary investigation confirmed that she used different fronts or cronies to obtain contracts from Ministries, Departments and Agencies. While tracing embezzlement by the ex-Minister, detectives stumbled on diversion of funds into proxy companies which the Head of Service has relationships with. The startling revelations made detectives to dig further into her activities as a Permanent Secretary and Head of Service.
“There were proofs of how she secured contracts through proxy firms from some ministries including Special Duties, Power, Works and others. There was a case of abuse of office because there was evidence of pressure on Permanent Secretaries to get her contracts. She moved from one ministry to the other.
“Investigators also discovered that she was involved in falsification of Duty Tour Allowance and estacodes and about N600million has been traced to the account of one of her aides. This illicit account has been blocked and the EFCC is in the process of invoking interim forfeiture clause.” the source said.
It is not sure whether the investigation will continue or if Buhari has either directly or otherwise asked the EFCC to stop the pressure.
Buhari has repeatedly said he does not interfere in the affairs of the agency but observers are not sure whether or not this is a unique case.
