By Nsan Ndoma-Neji, Calabar
The controversial disappearance of a tractor from the premises of the Cross River Basin Development Authority has taken a different dimension, as the Principal Commercial Officer of the establishment, Mr. Inyang Umana, has denied authorizing the release of the missing MF-275 tractor for physical inspection by external auditors to be returned the following day.
Umana denied the allegations while answering questions on the issue from journalists in his office yesterday in Calabar.
The commercial officer stated that he had no knowledge of the whereabout of the missing tractor; neither did he gave authorization to the three individuals individuals who drove the tractor out of the premises of the authority.
He stressed that the signature purported to be his signature in the letter that facilitated the exit of the tractor from Basin Authority premises was fake!
Umana had been accused of being responsible for the release of a tractor from the premises of the establishment to two strangers elements in company of a principal work superintendent officer (mechanical unit) in the establishment.
Umana averred that the signature presented to the security unit to enable the trio drive the tractor out of the premises of the CRBDA was fake.
He said, “To say that I was part of those involved in the release of the tractor is a lie from the out of hell. This is not the first time this staff had been involved in issue like this.
“I did not sign the purported document used by the two young men and our staff to get the tractor out from Basin Authority premises.
“I was only a whistle blower. I was the one who even raised the alarm. To rope me into the matter is ridiculous.
“The missing tractor might still be in Oban moving wood at Oban, in Akamkpa Local Government Area of Cross River State.
“From what we gathered, the two young men stormed the premises of the Basin Authority in company of one of our staff with a forged document pretended as if the document was signed by me.”
The commercial officer officer stated that the missing tractor might have been taken to the Northern part of the country, where it might have been hired to execute a job and he assumed the bandits may have seized the farming equipment.
