Tinubu sacks top govt official, appoints replacement 

By Kalaroo Sarah

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reportedly sacked Sani Anwalu Balarade as the chief of the inter-county centre of oral health for Africa.

According to a report, Balarade was fired on July 18 for allegedly embezzling N1.8billoin when he was ICOH head.

Meanwhile, the president Bola Ahmed Tinubu had appointed Taiwo Olaniyi as a replacement.

In January, the house of assembly, EFCC, Minister of health and other government officials received a slew of petition to investigate alleged financial misconduct at the ICOH under Mr Balarabe’s leadership.

The petition alleged that Mr Balarabe throughout his tenure at the ICOH did not conduct any research despite receiving hundreds of millions of naira.

Despite all these budgetary allocations, the centre had refused to produce a single health research which is the centre’s core mandate and reasons for its establishment.

The petition dated January 16 which stressed that the project under Mr Balarabe administration was never completed, citing the construction of a remodelled dental clinic, construction of remodelled administration blocked and procurement of project vehicles. According to the petition, the projects cost ICOH over 700 million yet there isn’t any to show for the money expended.

Mr Balarabe’s allegedly backdated the letters of appointment for new staff and paid them salary arrears to cover some of the ICOH expenses, but the petition alleged he secretly asked the employees to remit the money back to a designated account.