Disappearance Of Delta's Accountant-General Irresponsible, Says Uduaghan

SAN FRANCISCO, May 28, (THEWILL) – Outgoing Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has said the disappearance of the Accountant-General of the state, Mr. Cyril Agbele, six days to the inauguration of a new administration was in bad faith.

The Governor who stated this Thursday when Permanent Secretaries and retired Permanent Secretaries paid him a farewell visit at Government House, Asaba expressed surprise that after a fruitful discussion on arrangements for the inauguration of the new administration including security and entertainment, the Accountant-General made himself incommunicado.

According to him, “the Accountant General has disappeared in the last five – six days. The truth is that on Thursday we met and I told him we have some payments to make in the areas of the swearing-in ceremony coming up tomorrow (Friday) he did not object, he did not say no and on Sunday, I was calling him but he was not picking my calls.

“And of course on Monday his phones had been put off and on Tuesday, he sent in a paper that he was sick. By Wednesday, he sent in a memo and I find this act very inconsistent and irresponsible,” he stated.

“If there is something that I am doing that is not right, he should be free to tell me it is not right rather than disappearing … just imagine running the affairs of the state for a week without funds, even security men have started withdrawing from their posts across the state.

“You know the security implication of this particularly when peace and security is a key agenda of my administration and I cannot compromise on it. It is a conspiracy to grind my administration to a halt and an attempt to set me up on a collision course with the incoming administration. I think it is very irresponsible,” the governor said.

Uduaghan challenged the Permanent Secretaries to be good mentors to others, observing that civil servants are key to the growth of the country.

Earlier, the Head of Service, Mr. Patrick Origho told the Governor that the civil servants were happy with his antecedents as Governor of Delta State and wished him well in his future endeavour.

High point of the occasion was the presentation of gifts to the Governor by the serving and retired Permanent Secretaries