Board members, directors, staff bicker over alleged graft at CCB

Some aggrieved directors and members of staff of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) have accused the board members of grand corruption and amassing of illicit wealth by engaging in the day-to-day running of the organisation contrary to public service rules.

One of the directors, who claimed to be a victim of the alleged excesses of the board members, Omoyola Abel Kolade, told The Guardian that against the public service rules, the board members engaged in collection of asset declaration forms as well as verification of the asset declared, a situation which, according to him, breeds corruption.

“This amounts to a case of politicians verifying other politicians”, he said.On the contrary, Chairman of the Bureau, Sam Saba, told The Guardian on phone that he was not aware of the allegations.“I don’t know what the petition is all about. I’m just hearing this. I’ll like to see it (the petition) so I can respond to it”, he said.

Meanwhile, one of the members of staff who spoke with The Guardian on condition of anonymity, accused the board of corruption, alleging that the N45 billion headquarters’ building for which the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan allegedly released N15 billion, has not gone beyond the foundation level. He alleged that board members allegedly shared the released money.

But in a reaction to this allegation, Special Assistant to Saba, Dr. Gwimi Peters, told The Guardian that at no point was such money released to the CCB.

“That is not correct. There has never been a time when even a billion naira was released to the bureau. If we had such money, we would have completed the building. That is a rumour, depending on which side of the divide they are coming from”, he said.

According to Omoyola, he was demoted by the board members in July 2015 from the position of Acting Secretary of the bureau, a position which is equivalent to that of a Permanent Secretary in the civil service for no reason and without any query. He now occupies the position of Director of Legal Services.

When asked about the actions taken by chairman of the Bureau on the whole matter, Omoyola told The Guardian that the chairman had been complacent all along, adding that the attitude of the board members is running down the organisation and he has chosen to bell the cat because if something is not done about it, the alleged oppression would continue on members of staff and directors even after he retires.

Another director, who spoke anonymously, told The Guardian that the board members have a retinue of members of staff and offices assigned to themselves and have allegedly refused to return their official vehicles in defiance to an instruction from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

A source within the bureau, who preffered anonymity, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently look into the operations of the CCB, alleging that so much rot had taken place within.