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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate termination of the appointment of Rev. Tor Ujah as the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC).
Ujah’s sack may not be unconnected to the alleged diversion of $229,000 intended for Nigerian Christian’s pilgrimage to Israel, Greece and Rome in July 2017, another alleged diversion of $103,000 in 2018, which Ujah explained was used for hiring of a hall during the bidders’ education workshop, which held in Israel last year. It was, however, gathered that the workshop had held inside the hall of the Nigerian Embassy in Tel-Aviv, for which Ujah could not have made any such payment.
The sacked Executive Secretary was also alleged to have transferred N1 billion meant for the Commission’s local budget to its offshore account between 2016 and 2017.
Ujah has been directed to hand over to the Commission’s Director of Administration, Mrs Esther Kwaghe, who is to oversee the office, pending the appointment of a new Executive Secretary.
In a statement by the Director Information, Willie Bassey, on behalf of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ujah’s termination “is in line with the provision of Section 4, Sub-Section 3 of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission Act.”
In a related development, President Buhari has directed the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to work out an appropriate framework for the operation of an offshore account maintained by the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission and all other federal agencies in order to streamline their operations.
Ujah, who was appointed in 2016, has since last year been under investigation for a series of alleged fraud.
The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) had in October 2018 given instructions for investigation into the allegations.
Ujah is also being investigated for the 10 different payment vouchers he had allegedly issued between 2017 and 2018 on behalf of the Commission.
