The Abia State Commissioner for Finance, Dr Aham Uko has confirmed his resignation from the cabinet of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.
“Yes. it is true”, Uko said without giving any explanation on why he resigned from his position in the administration, according to The PUNCH.
However, Government House, Umuahia sources said that Uko resigned about a month ago, “but Government House decided to keep it secret until after the elections”.
Sources said Uko had tendered his resignation letter to Ikpeazu some weeks ago, and was duly acknowledged by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Barrister Chris Ezem.
When contacted, the SSG simply said: “I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know where you people got that from”.
Sources had disclosed that Uko resigned on personal grounds, according to his resignation letter dated 7th February, which was addressed to Ikpeazu.
The source further revealed that the official announcement is expected this week, stating that Uko might have decided to quit the appointment to continue with his private business which has come to near stagnation since he took up the appointment several years ago and has offered to render any services that might be required of him by the Ikpeazu-led administration.
Uko, who assumed leadership of the ministry in 2019 after Ikpeazu’s re-election, is said to have insisted on the payment of pensioners and salaries.
According to the sources, this had often pitched him against other relevant state financial authorities who would always tell the elderly statesmen, “there is no money”, while many times, Uko’s advice on salaries payment were discarded.
“He had never been happy about the unpaid backlog of salaries”, the source maintained.
Last week, a Federal High Court sitting in Apo, Abuja ordered the freezing of all the accounts of the state government domiciled in about 27 commercial banks.
Reports Justice Bello Kawu gave the order while ruling on a motion ex parte motion filed by one Mr Uche Eni against the Accountant-General of Abia State and the Commissioner for Finance.
In its ruling on the motion, the court was said to have further barred all the banks from cooperating with Ikpeazu’s financial aides pending the determination of the motion on notice.
