Governor of Abia state in southeast Nigeria, Okezie Ikpeazụ, has suspended his Chief of Staff, ACB Agbazuere, from Office.
The governor’s decision was announced in a statement issued by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chris Ezem.
The statement said the suspension is with immediate effect.
While the SSG did not give a reason for the suspension, sources revealed that Governor Ikpeazu made the decision to suspend Mr Agbazuere after a video surfaced on social media showing the suspended Chief of Staff spraying wads of the Nigerian currency, the naira, on a controversial Nigerian prophet, Chukwuemeka Odumeje, inside the Government House.
The video was first published on Twitter.
“He shouldn’t have done that,” the official said, asking not to be named as he was not authorized to speak to journalists on the matter.
“I can assure you that the governor wasn’t aware that Odumeje was even there (in Government House). The governor was away from the state when it happened,” he added.
Nigerian elite are known to usually spray naira notes publicly to display affluence and show appreciation to persons who might be singing their praises.
Nigeria’s economy is currently in a recession and the act of spraying money (also known as “making it rain” in certain hip-hop circles in the US) by the now-suspended senior official of the Abia state government signposts what is seen as the insensitivity and wanton profligacy of certain Nigerian government officials.