Yemisi Izuora
The sales clerk with the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, Philomena Chiesche who reported claimed snake swallowed N36 million realized from scratch cards sales has said that JAMB only concocted the snake story to cover up for the disappearance of the money.
Speaking during an interview conducted by Cable News Network (CNN), Chiesche said she was never interrogated about the missing fund and never said that the money was swallowed by a snake.
According to Chiesche, JAMB only invented the story of a mystery snake said to have sneaked into the accounts office of the Board in Makurdi and stolen N36 million cash.
“I did not say any money was swallowed by a snake. Nobody questioned me about that case. I am just a clerk and I serve under directors who are accounting officers. I wonder why they are personalizing the case,” Chieshe told CNN.
It would be recalled that spokesperson of JAMB, Fabian Benjamin was reported to have said that there was indeed a case of fraud and criminality at its Benue state office, hence ordered that the sale of scratch cares be stopped to curb corruption.
The earlier report was that Chieshe told JAMB registrar and his team that she could not account for N36 million she made in previous years before the abolition of scratch cards.
Philomena was then said to have denied the allegations that she stole the money but confessed that her housemaid connived with another JAMB staff, Joan Asen, to “spiritually” (through a snake) steal the money from the vault in the accounting office”, the report said.
The controversial disappearance had become popular in the discussions of Nigerians both on off various social media platforms in the past few days.
Reacting to the development on its Twitter handle, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had said that it will “show no mercy” to the alleged snake that swallowed the sum of N36million at the Makurdi, Benue State office of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.