The Executive of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta state led by one Comrade Festus Basil Erabere is currently engulfed in an alleged N57.2million financial scandal.
It was learnt that Mr. Erabere and his team had embezzled the said amount of money, which was meant for the teachers’ welfare in the council area.
The chairman of the Teachers’ Reformation Forum in the Local Government Area, Mr. Solomon Oberido, a frontline crusader for accountability in the union, has been arrested for whistleblowing on the said financial misappropriation by the executive of the NUT.
The Teachers’ Reformation Forum is a body formed to ensure accountability in the teachers’ union.
Oberido was arrested on January 25, 2022, by men of the Nigerian Police Force, Zone 5, Benin City, Edo State, after he had petitioned the Executive to the Delta State’s Ministry of Justice over the issue.
The case was subsequently referred to the State’s Commissioner of Police for investigations.
A source close to the Teachers’ Reformation Forum who preferred anonymity said, Comrade Festus Erabere and his team turned down the invitation by the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (SCIIB) for questioning on the missing N57.2million from the treasury of the union.
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According to him, “NUT chieftain sent a legal representative who told the police operatives that his clients were indisposed and that they would appear before the police on Monday.”
The source fingered the NUT chairman Mr. Erabere, as being behind the arrest of Mr. Oberido to bury the alleged embezzlement of the union’s funds for fear of being exposed.
He, however added that Mr. Festus Erabere had on different occasions denied the alleged misappropriation of the union’s fund.
The source stated further that the petitioner was, however, waiting patiently for the police command to question the suspects over the missing fund, only for him to be arrested by the police from the above.
Wondering when it has become a crime for exposing corruption and embezzlement of public funds, the Source called for the immediate release of Solomon Oberido.
He described Oberido as a teacher and an advocate who is committed to the welfare of its members adding that he was a true ambassador of reformation who campaigned against corruption in the NUT in the area.
When The Trumpet contacted the NUT chairman, Comrade Festus Erabere, on the issue, he simply said, “I am engaged. I don’t have anything to say on the issue. Those people that wrote the petition want to kill me.”
