A group under the aegis of Aojoko K’Otukpo (Special advisers to the paramount ruler of Otukpo Kingdom) in Benue state, Monday
described as ‘unfounded, malicious and unscrupulous, allegations bandied against Sonny T. Echono, the executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
The group also said the agenda of those calling for Echono’s sack is to rubbish the president‘s ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ epitomised in the workings of the present TETFund.
The group made the call at a press conference in Otukpo and noted that the current allegations against Echono, which borders on awarding a job order in the absence of a board was frivolous and wondered whether TETFund should be at a standstill in the absence of a board.
Reading from a speech titled, ‘TETFund and the enemies of progress: Let Sonny Echono Breath,’ chairman of Aojoko, Dave Ekwo, noted that the consistent attacks on Echono were as a result of his avowed posture to make TETFund a better performing organ, a development which he said, has attracted enemies who are bent on making sure that he is either removed or made permanently uncomfortable in the performance of his work.
The group called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to give attention to the ethnic agenda of some groups who are calling for the sack of the executive secretary of TETFund, Echono.
It also called on the Minister of Education and well intentioned patriotic Nigerians to rise up against what it described as the pull-him-down syndrome masquerading in frivolous allegations against a respected performer, “a man who has rightly been described as a Progressive Innovator by the President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina.”
