The Commissioner for Education in Cross River State, Senator Stephen Odey, has stated that he never approved the ministry's Director of Finance, Dr Denis Usibe, to withdraw cash from a bank.
Usibe was shot on Wednesday after two suspected robbers in military uniforms trailed him from a bank on Calabar Road into the Ministry of Education premises, adjacent to Governor Bassey Otu's office, and disposed him of the money, reportedly millions of naira.
But in a telephone conversation, Odey said the money must have been about N500,000, not N30 million as speculated. He said he did not sign any cheque to authorise payment.
He maintained that he was informed of any visit to the bank, adding that he was with the state governor and his Yache community people at the time the incident happened.
He confirmed that the robbers attacked Usibe within the premises of his ministry as he parked his car.
Meanwhile, the finance director, who was rushed to Navy Reference Hospital and later to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, where the bullets were extracted, is said to be stable.
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