Strong indications emerged over the
weekend that President Muhammadu Buhari might consider sacking his Minister of
Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, following serious pressure from foreign
diplomats over his indictment for corruption by the Rivers State Judicial
Commission of Inquiry.
The commission led by Justice
George Omeregi was set up to investigate the sale of state assets and the
consequent Whitepaper issued by the state government during his tenure as the
governor.
The indications of Amaechi’s possible
sack was informed by the supposed anti-corruption stance of the Buhari-led
Federal Government which the foreign diplomats presume has been greatly
compromised.
Also, Buhari was said to
be reportedly disposed to easing out of office the current Secretary to
the Government of the Federation, SGF, Lawal Babachir and his Chief of Staff,
Alhaji Abba Kyari following the reports about their disposition of
corruption.
A Western diplomat said: “There is now
increased and general erosion of confidence in the president’s ability to
prosecute his administration’s anti-graft war.
“About five senior diplomats have had
reason to pass similar observations to the presidency after the Rivers State
government Whitepaper that indicted the Minister of Aviation, Amaechi over
alleged corruption during his years as governor.
“If I can recall very vividly, they
told the president that until people like Amaechi in his government are excused
from government to defend the telling allegations against him, the corruption
fight will not be taken seriously.”
The declaration by the diplomats he
said was buoyed by a letter written by Governor Nyesom Wike to foreign missions
and Embassies detailing findings and related documentary evidences including
the government Whitepaper of the Justice George Omeregi commission probe report
on the state’s finances during the Amaechi years as governor, according
to reports.
Speaking to newsmen on behalf of
Governor Nyesome Wike, the Rivers state’s Commissioner of Housing, Emma Okah,
had last year disclosed that the state’s Attorney-General had been mandated to
start all legal processes against Amaechi; a former military administrator of
Rivers State, Brigadier Anthony Ukpo (Rtd) and some other former political
office holders to refund over N97 billion allegedly misappropriated in the sale
of the state’s valued assets.
A foreign diplomat who was privy to the
matter said: “The president being a leader desirous of returning Nigeria to the
path of sanity and prosperity contracted the consultants recommended by former
President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“But the president gave them his own
terms of reference which were not envisaged by his earlier understanding with
Obasanjo.”
He said that the report concluded that
the Buhari administration was better off when the President was working with
permanent secretaries adding that he should have retained some of the “good and
patriotic hands among them” instead of the almost clean sweep that sent all of
them away leaving a wide vacuum in positive governance.
“They were effective either because
they understood the workings of government very well given their experiences or
they dreaded any tendency to act outside the directives of President Buhari.
“The president contracted a firm from
the U.S. to assess the performance of his government and officials. The result
is far from complimentary in respect to some officials, number one of which is
the SGF, Engr. Lawal.
“The SGF’s supervisory role over the
MDAs was also brought to question in the report; but it is surprising that the
president has allowed him to stay this long after that report. I am aware too
that somebody is being considered for that position.”
One of the instances mentioned in the
consultant’s report is the sacking of heads of MDAs recently whereby other
political appointees in such MDAs were left out of the action.
The source said: “Some departments and
agencies’ staffers have expressed the worry that executive directors were left
in office while chief executives of some agencies have been sacked by the
present regime.
“The aggrieved staff argued that
executive directors ought to have gone with the chief executives since they are
all political appointees, stressing that the executive directors could not be
excused from any impropriety that may have happened in such departments and
agencies.
“The affected staff appealed to the
president to as a matter of urgency sack the executive directors and probe
their time in office.”
He said the case of the Chief of Staff
is not different as his effectiveness as the bridge between the president and
his aides alongside other federal, states and foreign governments’ officials
has long been in doubt.
The source allegedly accused the
ineffectiveness of the duo has contributed largely to the steep nose-dive of
government in the past months.
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