Winifred Oyo-Ita, the head of
service of the federation, has offered to immediately proceed on retirement in
a letter to President Muhammadu Buhar.
The widow had been under pressure
from her immediate family to retire after news reports emerged that she was
being probed over an alleged N3 billion contract scam.
Although she has vehemently
denied involvement in any scam, she bowed to family pressures and sent in a
letter on Sunday offering to proceed on retirement.
Buhari is yet to take a final
decision on it but it was learnt that he is favourably disposed to the option.
“Mrs Oyo-Ita has sent in her
letter of retirement,” a family member, who asked not to be named, said on
Monday morning.
She was absent at the
presidential retreat for ministers-designate, federal permanent secretaries and
top government functionaries held at the state house conference centre in
Abuja.
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) recently questioned Oyo-Ita over allegations that she used
front companies to get contracts when she was a permanent secretary before her
appointment as head of service by Buhari in 2015.
There were insinuations that she
was being “punished” for “falling out” with Abba Kyari but it was revealed that
the president’s chief of staff was unaware of the EFCC probe until it was leaked
to the media.
Oyo-Ita has also told her
associates not to drag Kyari into the matter because “it is not true”,
according to a family member who spoke anonymously.
The EFCC said the petition
against her was written in 2014 when President Goodluck Jonathan was still in
office.
We, however, learnt that Oyo-Ita
was not the subject of the probe.
It was also reported that N600
million was traced to the account of one of her aides who has been quizzed by
the anti-graft agency and released.
However, Oyo-Ita also denied the
allegation, saying the money was meant for the death benefits of staff and was
meant to be kept in a designated account for that purpose by the project
accountant.
“She denied knowing anything
about where the money was kept and said there was no fraud involved, at least
not from her end,” the family member said.
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