By CrossRiverWatch admin
Aides of Cross River state governor Benedict Ayade have had a bleak Christmas following the non payment of allowances and bonuses up till the eve of the yuletide.
CrossRiverWatch’s gathered that the aides were lined up in front of the Chief Accountant, Alfred Mboto’s office, up until 6PM yesterday when he left the office premises.
A source in the governor’s office told CrossRiverWatch that approval and clearance for the allowances was done as at the close of work time (around 4PM) Wednesday by the governor who spent his whole day at the presidential lodge. He also did not step into the office yesterday.
Another source added that money has been released but it seems it is not enough as Mboto says he was awaiting clearance from the Chief of Staff, Martins Orim which he was yet to get as at the time of filing this report with aides storming out of his office in anger as all the Chief of Staff’s telephone lines were not connecting.
One lucky aide who got paid confided in CrossRiverWatch that the money is bad and looks dirty and dusty with his colleague jokingly adding that “it looks like the money stolen by politicians and hidden underground for years, with the thief returning it to the banks to change it. See the date of production, it is 2005.”
The aides complained bitterly with some complaining in loud voices and storming out of Mboto’s office in anger.
One of the “Men in Black” as they call themselves, (some men who, though not part of his security team, wear suits and follow Governor Ayade around with no specified function), could be heard saying in pidgin “me I no understand the way this government dey go o”.
Information available to CrossRiverWatch suggests the situation is a recurring theme as the governor is yet to hand out appointment letters to majority of his appointees with speculations that he is doing that to prevent regularization of wages as this will mean an official inflation of the overhead costs.
Another school of thought suggests that his large cabinet and number of appointees were not captured in the 2015 Appropriation Act with hopes it will be a different scenario by next year where it has been reportedly captured.
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