Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State on Tuesday sacked the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Bernard Odoh.
He had earlier rejected the resignation of the SSG on the grounds that the letter was submitted during the public holidays.
The governor made this known at a rally in Government House, Abakaliki, by Ezza Ezekuna, a political pressure group.
He announced the immediate appointment of Dr. Hygenus Nwokwu as Odoh’s replacement, describing the new SSG as “a round peg in a round hole’’.
According to him, the resignation letter earlier submitted by the former SSG was written on a public holiday and therefore did not hold any valid meaning.
He said, “In my capacity as the governor of Ebonyi, I hereby nullify the purported letter of resignation earlier written by Prof. Odoh because he wrote the letter on a public holiday.
“We all know that by law, any letter of resignation done on a public holiday does not hold water. I also here and now announce his sack as the Secretary to the State Government.”
Umahi said that Odoh “stabbed me in the back’’ in spite of the love he showed him and also not being a member of the People’s Democratic Party at the time of his appointment.
“I appointed him SSG because I felt he was a responsible Ezza man.
“Many people faulted his appointment because he was not a PDP member but an APGA senatorial seat candidate in 2015 general elections.
“Since his appointment, I have shown him love and assisted him in so many ways. I called him to my country home and told him that case of murder is a very serious one.
“I asked him to see me but he switched off his phone throughout the Easter period.
“The next thing I heard was his resignation letter flying up and down in the social media.”
Odoh resigned as SSG on Monday.
The new SSG was before his appointment, the Deputy Director-General of Divine Mandate, a political platform on which the governor ran his campaign for the 2015 poll.
He hails from the same Ezza North Local Government Area as the former SSG. – NAN.
