The suspension of the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, was politically motivated by desperate politicians seeking to run for president in 2023, a northern group has alleged.
The group, Concerned Northern Forum (CNF), stated that the NPA boss was suspended “because she blocked all financial loopholes which such politicians have been using to milk the ports of billions of naira over the years.”
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, recently said he had sought and obtained the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari for the suspension and probe of Hadiza Bala Usman as the managing director of NPA for alleged unremitted sum of over N165 billion since she assumed office.
However, addressing journalists in Kaduna on Friday, the CNF spokesperson, Comrade Abdulsalam Mohammed Kazeem, said the suspension of Usman was illegal because it did not follow due process.
“We have noted the grand plan of a witch-hunt against Hajiya Hadiza Bala Usman in the manner with which she has been moved from one purported offence to the other all in a desperate attempt to tarnish her image.
“It is our position as a Forum of Concerned Northerners and patriotic Nigerians that the suspension of Hadiza Bala Usman is a deliberate case of witch-hunt, blackmail and bullying because of her refusal to allow politicians unfettered access to the purse of the NPA with which to assemble the financial war chest to fund desperate bid to contest for the presidency of Nigeria in 2023.
“We regard Hadiza Bala Usman’s suspension without following due process not only as an assault on women inclusiveness in governance, but as an attack on Northern Nigeria, and a well-orchestrated attempt to embarrass the government of President Buhari for rewarding the uncommon character, competence and capacity with which Hadiza Bala Usman discharged her duty to Nigeria by recently renewing her appointment as the head of NPA for another five years.”
