Buhari’s men at war

By Ibraheem Musa–

In the last 29 months, one of the de- fining attributes of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is the general lack of coordination and the open spat between top government officials over policy issues.

Kachikwu/Baru row

On Tuesday last week, Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu accused the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Kachallah Baru, of corruption.

In a memo to the president which was leaked to the media, Kachikwu accused the GMD of awarding a $25 billion worth of contract without following due process, in addition to making major appointments and deployments without consulting with either the minister or the NNPC Board.

Also, the minister accused Baru of insubordination and making changes in NNPC without consulting him.

 Minister’s worries

Specifically, Kachikwu told the president that the August 29 changes within the corporation was not the first time he was kept in the dark over such deployments.

‘’Like previous reorganizations and posting done since Dr Baru resumed as GMD, I was never given the opportunity before the announcements to discuss these appointments.

This is so despite being Minister of State, Petroleum and Chairman of NNPC Board,” Kachikwu pointed out.

Like the minister, members of the Board also learnt of the appointments, according to Kachikwu, on the pages of the newspaper.

The memo became necessary, the minister further said, because of his inability to have audience with the president after so many attempts.

 NNPC breaks silence

A week later, NNPC responded to Kachikwu’s allegations, following Buhari’s order to Baru.

In a statement issued by the Corporation’s Spokesman, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, NNPC described the minister’s allegations against Baru as baseless.

Citing the Procurement law and civil service circular, the statement said the GMD is not required to review or even discuss contractual matters with the Minister of State or NNPC Board.

The statement said, “what is required is the processing and approval of contracts by the NNPC Tenders Board , the president in his executive capacity or Minister of Petroleum, or the Federal Executive Council(FEC), as the case may be.

” According to the statement, there are some cases “where all that is required is the approval of the NNPC Tenders Board while, in other cases, based on the threshold, the award must be submitted for presidential approval.

Likewise, in some instances, it is FEC approval that is required.

” In addition, the corporation debunked Kachikwu’s allegation that $10 billion Crude Term Contract and $5 billion Direct Sales and Direct Purchase contracts were awarded.

According to the corporation, the two were not contracts for any procurement of goods, works or services but were simply the short listing of off takers of crude oil and suppliers of products.

In any case, the agency noted that both transactions didn’t have specific values attached to them and that “it is therefore inappropriate to attach arbitrary values to the shortlists with the aim of classifying the transactions as contracts above NNPC Tenders Board limit.

” ‘And Kachikwu lied’

Similarly, the statement further punctured Kachikwu’s feigned ignorance.

As GMD, he had sought clarifications from Bureau For Public Procurement (BPP) as to the composition of the NNPC Tenders Board and the approving authority.

As at August, 2015, when Kachikwu was GMD, the BPP had stated that NNPC Tenders Board comprised the GMD as Chairman and other NNPC Heads as members.

In addition, BPP stated that approvals reside within the Tenders Board, adding that where thresholds are exceeded, “the NNPC refers to FEC for approval.

Therefore NNPC Board has no role in contracts approval process as advised by BPP.

” Specially, Baru’s defence was silent on his alleged insubordination, especially major deployment in the NNPC without reverting to the minister.

Will this go the way of others?

Significantly, the last has not been heard on the issue as the back and forth will continue amongst analysts, especially oil industry watchers.

However, going by past precedents, the government may sweep the matter under the carpet, in spite of whatever the Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamako-led adhoc committee will ultimately recommend.

 PDP, SERAP react

Signifi cantly, even before hearing his own side of the story, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), had called for the sack of the GMD.

In addition, it decried what it referred to as ‘’the loud silence of President Buhari on the humongous corruption, scandal rocking the NNPC.

’’ According to the party, the alleged scandal which involves the ‘’two of the president’s henchmen shows the bias in Buhari’s anti corruption war.

’’ In a statement issued by PDP spokesman Dayo Adeyeye, the party said that it expected Buhari to prove that he is an anti corruption fi ghter, by allowing one of his own to be investigated.

Similarly, the Socio- Economic Rights and Accountability Project(SERAP) had asked Buhari to suspend Baru to pave way for his investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).

By so doing, public confi dence will be restored in the war against corruption, SERAP had argued.

Question of access to Mr. President

In a way, the Kachikwu-Baru spat has once again thrown up the question of access to the president and the use of memos (and leaking them) in order to get his attention.

It is on record that Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna state, also had to embrace the memo option when he wrote the president in September last year, following his inability to see the number one citizen for a chat on the stateof- the-nation discussion.

It was also gathered that several ministers and senior government offi cials have complained in whispers about lack of access to Buhari.

Incessant infighting

In addition, the open altercation between Kachikwu and Baru follows a pattern of disagreements within Buhari’s government.

In particular, there is no love lost between Mr Ibrahim Magu, Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Alhaji Lawal Daura, DirectorGeneral, Directorate of State Security Service(DSS) as well as National Security Adviser, retired Major General Mohammed Monguno.

According to reports, the row started when the president directed the NSA to set up a committee to probe military procurement from 2007 to 2015.

The SSS thought it should be represented in the committee but Monguno declined to allow to give the secret police any slot.

The NSA, sources had said, wanted the panel to comprise mainly retired military offi – cers and a representative of EFCC in order to avoid leakage of confi dential information.

Daura took exception to this explanation and from then, his relationship with Monguno has deteriorated.

So, Daura allegedly teamed up with Buhari’s Chief of Staff , Malam Abba Kyari, and the duo now locked horns with the NSA and Magu.

In addition, the arrest of retired Air Commodore Mohammed Umar, a member of the arms probe committee and Monguno’s friend, exacerbated the sour relationship.

Similarly, Monguno accuses Daura of encroaching into his turf, which include the coordination of internal security and counter insurgency.

Show of shame at Senate

The proxy war came to the fore during Magu’s confirmation as sub-stantive Chairman of EFCC.

Ideally, the DSS screens and clears candidates before their names are submitted to the Senate for confi rmation.

However, in Magu’s case, the carte was put before the horse.

 Specifi cally, the DSS ambushed Magu at the Senate, submitting a damning report on him and citing how he has failed the “Integrity Test.

” On that basis, the Senate refused to confirm Magu and various motives were imputed to its rejection.

Thereafter, the President asked Attorney General of the Federation, Alhaji Abubakar Malami, SAN, to query Magu.

According to reports, Magu responded to the allegations and his response transmuted to the President.

Satisfied, Buhari sent Magu’s name again to the Senate on January 20th but for the second time, the DSS torpedoed the confirmation, using the same report.

Yet again, the Senate rejected the anti-graft czar, thus further exposing the sharp division among Buhari’s helmsmen.

 The PINE mess

Another dangerous dimension was again introduced to the cold war within Buhari’s kitchen cabinet when Senator Shehu Sani, the activist turned politician, complained loudly as the presidency tried to rubbish his ad-hoc committee on the “Humanitarian Crisis in the North East” report, following some gory details on activities of the Presidential Initiative on North East.

The committee, in its interim report, had indicted Mr Babachir David Lawal, the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation(SGF).

The lawmakers alleged that Babachir’s Company, Rholavision Nigerian Limited, got a whooping N200 million contract to clear invasive plant species in Yobe state, which was never executed.

Consequently, the Committee recommended Babachir’s sack but the SGF, rather than react to these allegations, dismissed the report as ‘balderdash’, a development that angered the Upper Chamber.

Above all, President Buhari rose to Babachir’s defence, arguing that the SGF was not given fair hearing and that the report was signed by only three out of nine members of the committee.

 Senator Sani fi res back

In his response, Senator Shehu Sani said the SGF had spurned several of the committee’s invitations.

Not done, the lawmaker delivered his famous punch line: “Corruption in the judiciary and others are treated with insecticide, while corruption in the executive is treated with deodorant.

” Signifi cantly, Senator Sani belongs to the same APC like Buhari.

Misau/IGP face-off And as if the spate of iniquities within the administration is ad-infi – nitum, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy, Senator Isa Hamman Misau, on August 10, ‘exposed’ how offi cers pay bribe for special promotion.

The lawmaker also accused Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Idris of embezzling N10 billon monthly Internally Generated Revenue and taking bribe to post Commissioners of Police to State Commands.

 Police react

Dismissing the allegation with a mere wave of the hand, Force spokesman, Jimoh Moshood said, Misau deserted the force on September 24, 2010, when he was redeployed to Niger Command, and then promised “the Force will definitely take appropriate action in this circumstance as it has to do with a deserter under the Police Act and Regulations.

” Still not addressing the substance of Misau’s claims, the police described the retirement letter which the lawmaker presented to newsmen as forged.

However, the Police Service Commission (PSC) said Misua’s retirement letter is “authentic” and that the senator followed the due process in retiring.

 Attorney General sues Misau

Instead of asking the IG to explain the allegations raised against him, the Federal Government has fi led charges against Misau.

In the charge fi led last Tuesday, before the Federal High Court, Abuja, the Attorney General of the Federation, Malam Abubakar Malami accused the senator of, among other things, making and uttering false documents, which he allegedly submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2011 and 2015.

In a another fi ve-count charge, Senator Misau was accused of making “injurious falsehood” against the IG and the chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) Mike Okiro and the Nigeria Police in various newspaper publications.

The Attorney General accused Misau of falsifying “personal particulars of persons seeking election to the offi ce/membership of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (INEC Form C. F. 001/2011),” and a similar document for 2015 election (INEC Form C. F. 2015).

Other documents that he allegedly falsifi ed include, ‘’a statutory declaration of age, deposed to at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in December 2014” and “Bauchi State Health Management Board Birth Certificate Registration No: 28799.” According to the Attorney General of the Federation, Misau has committed off ences punishable under Section 1(2)(C) of the Miscellaneous Off ences Act Cap 17 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and punishable under the same section of the Act. Sympton of a disease—Dr Junaid Former member of the House of Representatives in the Second Republic, Dr Junaid Mohammed has described the entire feud within Buhari’s government as a symptom of the more cancerous disease.

According to him, ‘’APC is a party without ideology or values of any kind; it’s just a huge joke.

In this kind of atmosphere, people are just building personal gravitas.

This explains why the DG of SSS is crossing swords with the chairman of EFCC, the National Security Adviser and so on.

Some peoplelike Mamman Daura do not hold any position in government but they are very powerful.

This is not how to build institutions.

’’ Yet President Buhari keeps mum

As things stand, the Kachikwu-Baru spat has entered the familiar silence mode of the president and the two combatants, on the face of it, have temporarily ceased fi re.

Last Tuesday, Minister and GMD met at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group which held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja and pictures of them in a jolly mood went viral.

However, the battle may have ended but the war for the control of NNPC is far from over and when the next round of hostilities begins, the president will still keep sealed lips at a time when silence will not be golden.

 

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