Buhari Sacks Jonathan's Men For Governmrnt Sabotage

         
Revelations have emerged on why President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, sacked 27 heads of federal parastatals and agencies. National chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who led the national executive governing party to meet Buhari at  the presidential villa in Abuja,
yesterday, said the sacked officials were appointees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) involved in acts of sabotage against the present administration.

Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting, Oyegun explained that the party was not bothered about the positions, but about how those occupying them were using the position to slow down government efforts.

According to the APC boss, the agitation by members of the ruling party for their removal was not necessarily to succeed them, but to stem the tide of what he described as ‘internal sabotage’ that was allegedly going on in the respective agencies. “APC members were not concerned about the positions; we are concerned about the internal sabotage that is going on in a lot of the PDP filled positions which are critical to our national growth and development.

“It is happening in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it is happening in a lot of other institutions and that is what the concern of the party is, not necessarily taking over; we should take over and they should be people who believe in the change agenda.

We have no apologies for that at all, that is it.” Presidency sources had recently confirmed to our correspondent that angered by the development of sabotage, particularly the padding of the 2016 appropriation bill, Buhari had directed immediate investigation of some civil servants and for possible sack.

On the confusion trailing the 2016 budget, Oyegun attributed it to the complexities arising from the adjustment of ministries from over 40 in the past administration to a little above 20 in the current dispensation. “There is absolutely no confusion.

This is a serious issue. I want you to please understand the complications that come from adjusting a structure from over 40 ministries to just over 20 ministries and the necessary adjustments of figures and movements of institutions that that entails. “It was very complicated. So, it is natural that adjustments have to be made to the process and that is just what is happening,” the APC boss noted.

Speaking further, he said they were at the Presidential Villa for consultation and to raise some issues on internal party matters with the president. Coming barely 24 hours after the termination of the appointments of the agency heads, it is being speculated that the visit may not be unconnected to the scheming by the party on their replacements.

Buhari had, on Monday, relieved the heads of 26 federal agencies and parastatals. According to the circular signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Engr. Babachir David Lawal, those sacked were the Director-General (DG) of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Mr. Sola Omole; the DG of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Mr. Ladan Salihu; DG of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Sam Worlu; DG, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Ima Niboro; DG, Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Emeka Mba and Mr. Mike Omeri, the DG, National Orientation Agency (NOA). Other heads of agencies affected were the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA); Director General, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON); Director General, National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhi; Director General of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Barr. Uju Hassan-Baba; Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr. Olaoluwa Rasheed; Director General, National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Onyeka Onwenu; Director General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Mrs. Juliet Chukas Onaeko; Managing Director, Nigerian Export-Import Bank, Mr. Roberts U. Orya, DG, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr. Michael Odumodu and Director General of the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic In Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP), Mrs. Beatrice Jedy Agba. Others affected included the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Mr. Olufemi Ajayi; Special Adviser to the President on New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); Director General, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Umar Munir Abubakar and the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB). Also affected were the Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo; Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof. Suleiman Bogoro; Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Peter Jack; Executive Secretary, Petroleum Equalization Fund; Managing Director, Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC), Prince Adeseyi Sijuade; Director General, Bureau of Public Procurements (BPP), Engr. Emeka Eze, and his counterpart in the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Benjamin Dikki

New Telegraph