COMMISSIONER ADDRESSES THE ROBBERY ATTACK ON THE FINANCE DIRECTOR: “I DID NOT AUTHORIZE HIM TO WITHDRAW CASH FROM THE BANK”

Babatunji Wusu –

Senator Stephen Odey, the Cross River State Commissioner for Education, has declared that he never gave the ministry’s Director of Finance, Dr. Denis Usibe, permission to take money out of a bank.

Usibe was shot on Wednesday after he was followed by thieves dressed in military uniforms from a bank on Calabar Road into the Ministry of Education building, which is next to the governor’s office. The criminals allegedly stole millions of naira from Usibe.

In a phone chat with the Daily Post, Odey, however, denied rumors that the sum was N30 million as had been suggested.

He estimated the amount to be about N500,000 and said he never signed a check authorizing the payment.

The commissioner stated that he was there at the time of the occurrence with the state governor and members of his Yache community and insisted that he was not aware of any visit to the bank.

He attested to the fact that Usibe was attacked by the bandits while he was parking his car on the ministry’s property.

The finance director, meanwhile, is reported to be stable after being taken to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital and then Navy Reference Hospital, where the bullets were removed.