By Jimoh Babatunde

 THE Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Chief Olusegun Runsewe, has described his purported suspension from office on the orders of the chairman of the Board as illegal.

The special adviser to the president on media, Dr. Reuben Abati, also said the Presidency has not given directive for the suspension of  Runsewe who is statutorily an appointee of President Goodluck Jonathan. In a letter titled, ‘Suspension from office by the order of the NTDC Board,’ signed by the chairman of the Board, Mr. Uche Anya, Runsewe was ordered to vacate his seat and hand over  to the most senior director in the NTDC.

Abati said, “If a director of any agency will be suspended or removed, the minister in charge of such a parastatal will send a memo to the president for an approval to take such a step. I have crosschecked from relevant desks, there is no such directive from the Presidency for the suspension of the NTDC DG”.

He described Anya’s alleged unilateral action in suspending Runsewe as unusual.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Edem Duke, says he is awaiting the advice of the legal adviser of the ministry on the matter.

 The minister, in a telephone  interview with journalists yesterday  on the matter, who was also copied by the NTDC Board chairman on the DG’s purported suspension, alongside the permanent secretary, said: “My reaction is that I need to be briefed by the legal adviser of the ministry whether the Board has the legal powers to suspend the DG.” But the minister was silent on whether the suspension order stays till he got the legal advice and briefing from the parties concerned.

On his part, Runsewe insisted that he remained the DG as the chairman of the Board lacks the power to suspend him from office.