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Barely one hour after performing the ceremony of the commemoration of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day laying of wreath which falls under her ministry at the Uyo Cenotaph yesterday, the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare Mrs. Helen Ukpabio was sacked while the Permanent Secretary in the same Ministry Mrs. Arit Okpo was ordered to proceed on immediate retirement.



The order to this effect which was given in a statement issued by the State Commissioner for Information and Communication Mr. Aniekan Umana did not however state the reasons for their removal.



Pressed to know why the government took such a drastic step, the commissioner in a telephone interview with our reporter simply said he was acting on the governor’s order.



However, according to our reporter who monitored the event the Women Affairs Commissioner’s removal might not be unconnected with her decision and that of her permanent secretary not to wear the Remembrance Day emblem for the occasion.



It was also gathered that the commissioner did not also wear the emblem during the church service which was part of the celebration last Sunday.



The course leading to the commissioner’s removal according to our reporter started when she was still playing host to dignitaries including members of the state executive council without knowing that she had been relieved of her position through a statement that was broadcast by the state owned radio station “Radio Akwa Ibom”.



She was later called out from the banquet hall and driven to the government house where she was briefed of her removal.



Before her appointment as the Commissioner for Women Affairs, she had served as the state commissioner for Education.



She was however deployed from the ministry when she was unable to give relevant fact on the state of education in her ministry, the governor needed to brief Wole Soyinka during his visit to the state last year.


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