From Martins Oloja, Madu Onuorah. Collins Olayinka, Florence Oretade (Abuja), Chukwuma Muanya (Lagos) and Abiodun Fagbemi (Ilorin)

Special Adviser to the President (Communications), Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, said while announcing their disengagement from the Council of Ministers that they were "leaving the Federal Executive Council following charges of corruption brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)."

"It is expected that without the burden of their ministerial duties, they will be better placed to respond to the charges against them," he said.

Yar'Adua has also ordered the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Mrs. Ebele Okeke, to sanction the cream of the civil servants in the Ministry of Health for their roles in disobeying the President's directive late last year stopping all further award or execution of new contracts.

The bureaucrats were accused of participating "in the subversion of his directive on the return of unspent budget 2007 funds to the treasury."

Labour Minister, Dr. Hassan Muhammad Lawal, "is to oversee the affairs of the Federal Ministry of Health until further notice."

Already, anxiety is mounting in the ministry among workers over their fate in the wake of the latest development.

Below is the full statement read to journalists by Adeniyi: "President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua yesterday accepted the voluntary resignations of the Minister of Health, Prof. Adenike Grange and the Minister of State (Health), Arc. Gabriel Aduku.

"Both ministers are leaving the Federal Executive Council following charges of corruption brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). It is expected that without the burden of their ministerial duties, they will be better placed to respond to the charges against them.

"President Yar'Adua has also ordered the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Ebele Okeke, to direct that the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health, Prof. Simon Ogamdi, the Director of Administration, Dr. H.B. Oyedepo and the Director of Finance, Hanafi Muhammed who participated in the subversion of his directive on the return of unspent budget 2007 funds to the treasury should proceed on immediate suspension in accordance with extant civil service rules pending further disciplinary action by government.

"Another Director, Mr. M. S. Hamid, a Chief Accountant, Abdulrahaman Ambali, a Principal Administrative Officer, Mr. Donald Ekanem, a Principal Transport Officer, Mr. Donatus Iyang and seven other civil servants in the Ministry were also affected by the suspension order.

"The Minister of Labour, Dr. Hassan Muhammad Lawal, is to oversee the affairs of the Federal Ministry of Health until further notice."

The Guardian confirmed that the decision to sack the two ministers was taken last Thursday before the FEC meeting.

Trouble started for the two ministers and top bureaucrats following the submission of the EFCC report to the President a few weeks after The Guardian broke the story of the alleged official malfeasance in the ministry.

After reading the EFCC report, the President called both ministers and handed over the incriminating reports to them without comment.

But the trouble came to a head last Thursday after the FEC meeting when the President was said to have told Aduku that he and his principal had to leave the cabinet.

The President, however, told the Kogi-born, Kaduna-based architect that he could not make the announcement because Grange was then (last week) on an official visit to the United States (U.S.) in the company of Turai, the President's wife. They returned on Easter Sunday.

The President gave them an option of either resignation or dismissal.

Presidency sources said yesterday that the two erstwhile political heads and the indicted bureaucrats would be prosecuted by the EFCC.

As reported in The Guardian on Sunday, March 2, 2008, it all began when Yar'Adua directed the EFCC to arrest a serving minister for allegedly flouting a presidential directive on returning unspent funds in the last days of 2007 to the public treasury, and partaking in sharing from proceeds of contracts awarded illegally.

Sources had then told The Guardian that the minister concerned, might be among those to be shown the way out in "looming sweeping changes in several areas of the Executive, including top officers of the administration."

A source also added that the President, buoyed by his recent court victory, has made it known to some of his aides that many of the current ministers, who emerged through unavoidable political processes, "do not have the requisite capacity for their assignments."

The minister, who was reportedly facing interrogation by the EFCC, was accused of awarding contracts without following due process in the last few days of 2007 and partaking in the sharing of the proceeds of the contracts.

The President ordered the arrest of the minister, a day before he left Nigeria for his four-day visit to China.

Last December, Yar'Adua directed that all monies unspent by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) be returned to the treasury. This was after he had given an earlier directive that no contract be awarded in the last month of the year. The directives had not gone down well with some of the ministers.

The Guardian investigations showed that in February, the President ordered preliminary investigations to ascertain compliance with the directives following reports that some ministers found a way to keep part of the money.

In public service parlance, officers call it "ware-housing the fund" with a view to spending later. That probably explains the spate of travels and workshops that have marked the beginning of the year in Abuja even when budgets have not been approved. It is the "ware-housed" money that some MDAs spend unchecked.

A public servant who spoke to The Guardian at the weekend, also alleged that "even the judicial arm of government is involved in this ancient practice of beating government directive at the end of the year...."

Although the final report has not been turned in, preliminary investigations showed that in one ministry, contracts worth about N300 million were actually awarded without following due process in the last few days of the year and that much of the money was shared with the minister in charge taking a cut.

Since only the FEC can award contracts above N50 million, the said jobs were allegedly broken into smaller pieces of slightly above N40 million each and the dates backdated.

The investigations showed that there was disagreement in the sharing of the proceeds from the contract. So, some aggrieved officers in the directorate cadre alerted the EFCC.

The EFCC moved into the ministry and arrested the permanent secretary and some directors who opened up on the matter.

The President, the source added, had also asked the acting chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Larmode, to interrogate or arrest any suspect without seeking his clearance.

But when the story broke barely three weeks ago, there were reported counter-accusations in the ministry about Aduku's alleged involvement or otherwise in the deal.

But The Guardian learnt that the anti-graft agency was set to prosecute all those involved in the scandal.

An EFCC source who disclosed this in Abuja yesterday said it had nothing to do with the resignation and that this will not be the first time it is dealing with a case of financial misconduct by ministers.

However, the source who viewed with disdain reports that exonerated one of the ministers, said: "If that is the case, why are they resigning at the same time."

He added: "Anyway, we have nothing to do with the resignation but the Presidency. Our job is to investigate financial and economic crimes, what affects us is what we are looking into. We shall prosecute, whether in office or outside the office."

Another EFCC source said when they would be arrested has not been determined, stressing, however, that "definitely, they will be prosecuted on the case of financial misconduct and failure to follow directive to return all unspent money to the treasury."

The source also noted that none of the former ministers has immunity, saying: "If they resigned as a result of what we are doing, then it is a welcome development for the country."

The resignations yesterday threw the ministry's workers into confusion and uncertainty.

Journalists had besieged the ministry in the early hours of yesterday waiting to be briefed by Grange on the occasion of the World Tuberculosis Day being marked by Nigeria as against March 24, owing to the Easter holiday but had to leave for other

assignments midday when she was not present for an event that was slated for 10 a.m.

At about noon when the news of the resignations filtered into the premises, workers were seen discussing in about what fate had in stock for others who were also found culpable.

One of the workers who spoke to The Guardian on the condition of anonymity said: "The resignations may not be the end of the matter. The indefinite suspension of the Permanent Secretary is a signal that others who were involved in the money sharing may

still be made to face the music."

It was gathered that apart from the two ministers, the Permanent Secretary and other four directors that have been suspended, there are still other top officials who though played prominent roles in the scam, but are lucky for now.

At about 3.20 p.m., Grange in her valedictory meeting with personal staff, stated that she decided to resign to put an end to speculations.

She reportedly said: "I wish to thank you all for the cooperation I enjoyed during my stay as minister of health. I charge you to extend the same cooperation to my successor."

A source at the ministry said but for her travelling with the wife of the President to Houston, Texas, United States, the sack of the ministers would have taken place since last week.

The source added: "The Minister's sack would have come earlier than today (yesterday). An organisation based in Houston in the USA is interested in bringing funds and equipment to fight cancer in Nigeria. Travelling of the Minister with the First Lady was important because the cancer project has same outlook with the pet project of the First Lady and that was why the Minister had to go with her. Irrespective of this development (ministers' resignation), we believe that the project is on course and that Nigeria will reap maximum benefit from it."

Executives of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and Association of Medical Consultants, they declined comments on the resignation.

But the former Joint Pioneer of Test Tube Baby Technology in Nigeria, Prof. Oladapo Ashiru said: "It is unfortunate that Prof. Adenike Grange has to leave office this way. She has a lot of good plans for the health sector especially on child and maternal health. She is a world renowned paediatrician and was the President of International Paediatric Association before she was appointed minister on July 25, 2007, the first female Minister of Health."

It is believed that with the resignations more ministers may be exposed.

In fact, following allegations that some ministers colluded with some members of the National Assembly to inflate allocations for their ministries in this year's budget, the EFCC may have stepped in.

Following the arrest of Grange by the EFCC, a group of concerned doctors rose to her defense. Led by Dr. Tosin Ajayi of First Foundation, Ikeja, Lagos, they said Grange was a professional colleague with high integrity.

Grange, 68 has almost 46 years post-qualification as a medical doctor and with over 30 years widespread experience as a consultant pediatrician, post-graduate medical and nursing trainer, departmental and medical college administrator, programme manager, strategic planner and technical adviser on child, maternal and reproductive health issues at national and international levels.

She attended the Methodist Girls High School in Lagos and subsequently completed her secondary education at St .Francis College, Letchworth in the United Kingdom. In 1958, she was admitted to the University of St Andrews in Scotland where she read Medicine; graduating in 1964.She did her house jobs at the Dudley Road Hospital in Birmingham before returning home in 1965.

On her return, she worked in various hospitals such as the Lagos Island Maternity,the Creek Hospital and the Massey Street Children's Hospital. She had always wanted to be a Paediatrician and so in 1967 she returned to the UK where she was a Senior House Officer (Paediatrics) at the St Mary's Hospital for children and briefly at King's College Hospital in London, obtaining a Diploma in Child Health (DCH) in 1969.

In 1971, she joined the residency training programme at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). She also joined the College of Medicine, University of Lagos as a lecturer in 1978. She was appointed a consultant to the LUTH. She was promoted Senior Lecturer in 1981 and appointed professor in 1995.

She is the first female Professor of Pediatrics at the College of Medicine,

University of Lagos. Professor Grange has served her institution creditably in various capacities including Headship of the Department of Paediatrics; Director, Institute of Child Health and lastly Dean of the School of Clinical Sciences. She has also served her country meritoriously as a consultant to the Federal Ministry of Health, WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and USAID.

In such various capacities, she was instrumental in formulating and

implementing several guidelines for training and practice, especially diarrhea management guidelines, breastfeeding guidelines, immunization monitoring

guidelines, and most recently strengthening adolescent health programme in Nigeria.

She is an author of more than 50 scientific papers mainly on diarrhoeal and nutritional conditions in children. She is on the board of many national and international expert committees such as the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization (GAVI).

She is currently the President of the International Paediatrics Association (the second from sub-Saharan Africa and the first woman from Africa).

Aduku (OON) was a past president of the Nigerian Institute of Architects. Although not a professional in the health sector, he became an advocate for the rapid improvement of the sector since he assumed duties as a minister.

Aduku is believed to be an advocate and promoter of Primary Health Care in rural areas, where over 80 per cent of Nigerians reside, without adequate medical facilities.

He was involved in the controversy surrounding the ALGON/MATHAN contract for the construction of Health Care Centers in the country's 774 local councils which was expected to pave way for the realisation of the Primary Health Care Project and put Nigeria on the road to actualising one of the goals of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Ministry of Health had become a theatre of war between Grange and Aduku. Grange allegedly saw Aduku as out of place in the ministry, since he is an architect.

Grange's woes started when she allegedly approved N300-million contracts towards the end of last year, contrary to Yar'Adua's directive that all unspent funds be returned to the treasury. A source said about N98 million was inserted in the cost of the contracts for sharing among the top echelon of the ministry.

Grange was allegedly offered N10 million in the deal, but she refused to take it, a source in the ministry said. It was gathered that a director in the ministry blew the whistle on the deal over the sharing formula among top echelon.

Last week, the opposition Action Congress (AC) called for punitive measures against all those who were involved in sharing the unspent budget, including some members of the Senate Committee on Health, which is headed by Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

"This development at the Health Ministry has raised a fundamental question: How widespread is this money-sharing exercise among federal ministries and parastatals? This can only be answered by a systems-wide investigation, which must start today," the AC said.

"For the critical Health Ministry, it is sad, to say the least, that heartless public servants and Senators from the supervisory Committee on Health could be sharing money when millions are dying from lack of access to life saving drugs, lack of necessary equipment at public hospitals and incessant strikes by under-paid health workers.''