I Was Sack For Refusing To Bribe Buhari’s Minister – Ex-TETFUND Boss

Abdullahi Baffa, the sacked Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TeTFund),  has alleged he was forced out of office owing to his refusal to provide monetary kickbacks to Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu.

Baffa was sacked on Monday by President Buhari and replaced with Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, who was earlier sacked from the same position in 2016.

But speaking with BBC Hausa on Wednesday, Baffa alleged that the Minister had sent a contractor to him demanding his share of N200 billion disbursed by the agency to tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

He stated that he had never collected a dime from any of the benefiting tertiary institutions.

“If they bring any evidence indicting me, I’m ready to accept death punishment,” Mr Baffa said.

Bichi also said he was sacked over ‘false’ accusations of insubordination, inaccessibility and speaking to the press without authorisation.

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“On Friday night, I was informed at the Presidential Villa that Minister of Education came with a letter reporting me to the president.

“This is not the first time Adamu Adamu reported me to the president, requesting my sack but the president stood his ground and refuse to sack me,” he told the BBC.

When the interviewer asked him about the authenticity of his source, Mr Bichi said he was certain the information was accurate.

“My source is reliable. On Saturday night, I was reliably informed that I would be removed.

“I asked what was my offence? They alleged that the offences were inaccessibility, insubordination and speaking to the press without the minister’s authorisation.

“Allegation of inaccessibility is unfounded as the minister knows that I spend more time in the ministry as his technical aide than in my TETfund office.

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“I do not regret my refusal to obey the minister’s directives because I cannot sabotage my country.

“Go and ask the minister. Eight months ago, Mallam Adamu Adamu sent one of his biggest contractors to tell me that the minister was angry with me for three reasons.

“The third issue is that TETffund disbursed over N200 million to universities without remitting the percent kickback, amounting to at least N20 billion at 10 percent rate.

“The fact is that since I started this job, I have never demanded a single kobo from any university. If any university shows proof of collecting kickback from them, let death sentence be passed on me,” he added.