By Nsa Gill, Calabar

A Special Assistant to Cross River Governor Ben Ayade on Entertainment, Freeman Godwin, has narrated how he was tortured at the Auditor General’s office before he attempted suicide.

He said: “ I did not planned what happened but when I got to the man’s office and they started beating me when I refused to leave; the torture plus the anger and frustration in me, the idea came for me to use that rope with me to just kill myself.”

He explained that he was appointed in October 2020 and was advised to get money and Tax Clarence and documentation to be enrolled.

He said he secured a loan of N100, 000 at the interest rate of 20% on the belief that when he is paid by October ending or in November he would pay back the loan.

“I waited in November, no payment, December the same thing, no payment. January the same thing yet some other people who did the clearance and documentation at the same time with me have started collecting.

“The loan is growing and it’s about N200, 000. I did findings and I was directed to different places before I was finally directed to meet the Auditor General of the State, Mr. John Odey. I was not in Calabar but I got his phone number and called him.”

He added: “I called him and said sir I have not been receiving salary but others I did documentation with had started receiving theirs.

“He said he is aware of it and it’s not something we should talk on phone that I needed to come to Calabar. I told him I didn’t have money and that I am in Ogoja. He said I should come that it will be sorted out.

“I came down to his office and they said he was on a seminar so I had to wait. I spent five to six hours before he came down and he was attending to people in his office.

“He came out to the reception and I told him sir I am the person that spoke with you on phone and you asked that I should come down.

“He responded “And so? Go to His Excellency and get a letter from him so that you can be paid.

“I responded, sir, is that why you said I should come to Calabar? He said “that is all”, adding, “if I cannot get a letter from the Governor, I should forget about the appointment”.

“I told him I will not leave his office until my case is treated. He called his police orderlies. They started pouring teargas on me and dragging me.

“I resisted and was holding the tables and chairs in the office in resistance. That was how the office scattered. They were beating me. So I just told them that I will kill myself.”

Godwin went on: “There was no other alternative for me so I had a rope in my bag; I brought it out and put on my neck that I will kill myself before they kill me. That was how they left me. They later took the rope from me.

“That rope helped me because they were beating me mercilessly. God just made it that I got that rope for use at home but when they were beating me, I brought it out and put round my neck that I was going to kill myself there.”

After the story went viral, he said he has been told to wait till the end of the year to get paid.

“Now they have taken my details through the Permanent Secretary State Security Advisers Office. They promised to do something but I will wait till the end of this month, if I am not paid, I will know how to follow them up.

“I just want the world and the governor to know if there is somebody diverting the money or not. If it not diverted, let them just pay me,” he stated.

Apparently referring to the incident, Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to Ayade, Christian Ita, said: “It is on record that political appointees and civil servants in Cross River collect their salaries between 21st and 27th of every month. And this is done simultaneously with payment of pension.

“Ayade has over 6,000 appointees, employed 5,000 civil servants and recently engaged about 20,000 workers at the local government level and they are all paid promptly every month without fail.

“However, a handful of persons whose appointments were announced last November have pay rolling issues, a purely administrative matter.

“It is therefore, uncharitable of anyone to make certain unsavoury insinuations based on that.”(The Nation)

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