The Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, has ordered the arrest and prosecution of Ndukwe Ayansi and five others for allegedly selling and diverting materials meant for the state’s Ministry of Health.

The Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Monday Uzor, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

According to Mr Uzor, the governor, while on his way to inspect a project, spotted a Toyota Dyana truck loading registers, books, and other materials from the Ministry of Health’s warehouse.

“The governor drove in and made inquiries. Not satisfied with the answers given, he probed further and discovered that patients’ data registers, hospital cards, and other essential documents were being loaded into the vehicle,” the statement said.

“It was also discovered that all the documents had been sold without government approval,” Mr Uzor added.

Speaking at the scene, the governor described the act as sabotage of his administration’s efforts to reposition the health sector.

“I have been in office for less than two years, yet I have spent more than N6 billion buying equipment for primary health care centres and general hospitals,” the governor said.

“And this is what you, the storekeepers, are doing. You are selling government documents without approval—on a Saturday afternoon! Hospitals in rural areas are in dire need of registers, data entry forms, and hospital cards, yet the ones produced by the government are being sold by you,” he lamented.

Mr Uzor added that the suspects, including Ndukwe Ayansi, have been handed over to the police for further investigation.