Nigerian Concord Newspaper
The embattled chairman of the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board, Dr. Grace Adaagba has been in the media ‘negatively’ for quite some time as a result of her looting spree at the Board.
Adaagba’s problem began at the middle of this year when she was accused of stealing over N2.6 billion from school contracts, and up till now, the ‘most powerful’ woman in Benue state (according to her) has not denied the allegation while nothing too has been done to bring her to book.
At a point, a theft of N150M was traced to her, and that was during the Indonesia competition saga. Despite calls in the media, she didn’t return the stolen money, and she is still walking free inside the administration.
According to reports then, Grace Adaagba was giving all the contacts to her siblings, secret lovers and some government appointees who caught her fancy. And as a result of the weight allegations against Adaagba, petitions were sent to Governor Hyacinth Alia to suspend her and as well subject her to a probe.
But to the surprise of many, nothing was done to reprimand Dr. Adaagba who boasted severally that she was untouchable. She even locked some media influencers in Benue state in the police station where she forced them to sign an apology letter before they were released from seriius tortures.
The SUBEB boss has been boasting that no one including Governor Hyacinth Alia can touch her as a result of her influence within the administration. She had said it many times that she also has the backing of tradition rulers in Vandekya, adding that she will go away with whatever atrocities she might have committed.
Grace Adaagba has been caught on camera several times, saying that no amount of allegations or petitions could make the governor sack her even if she stole the whole of Benue state.
Recently, Adaagba was accused of recruitment frauds which made the Benue State House of Assembly to stop the exercise.
Also, a Committee set up by the State House of Assembly has also indicted her of N2.1B fraud and asked her to refund the money. As a result of this latest discovery, some pressure and anti graft groups have called on Governor Hyacinth Alia to define his fight against corruption by using Grace Adaagba as a scape goat but all these calls have yielded no positive results.
Despite calls that Adaagba should be suspended and probed, nothing has been done and this has left everyone with a question that: Is Grace Adaagba above the law?
The governor of Benue state should know now that keeping a verified thief like Grace Adaagba in his administration is a dent on the administration. Why will an administration that claims to be fighting corruption still be keeping someone like Grace Adaagba within?
I am Aare Abiodun Oluwarotimi , the Oracular Oracle that eats jollof rice in the shrine.