Re: Alleged sale of appointment letters by FCC

Firstly, it would interest the sponsors of the so-called falsely allegations against the person of the most humble and gentle soul, the Chairman Federal Character Commission (FCC) Ambassador Abdullahi Halidu Shinkafi that, all their empty baseless allegations against the already destined man in the Federal Character Commission will not work and will perish as a contains of an empty cascade.

Likewise, our attention has been drawn to a news report on the pages of various national dailes published on 24th-25th, February 2020 concerning an alleged sales of appointment letters by the leadership of the Federal Character Commission FCC. The news in reference is to call the attention of the National Assembly to investigate the matter and to invite the Chairman of the FCC Ambassador Abdullahi Shinkafi to the Senate for probe of such allegation which was unfortunately taken into further consideration by the Chairman Senate Committee on Federal Character Commission Senator Danjuma La’ah a member of the PDP from Kaduna South despite the fact that all the allegations against the Chairman FCC are nothing but a fabricated stories and lies to tarnish his hard earned reputations.

For starters, the FCC was established by Act No 34 of 1996, now cited as FCC Act. Cap F7 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, which mandates it to implement and enforce the federal character principle and formulae to ensure equitable distribution of public posts, socio-economic amenities and infrastructural facilities across the country which Ambassador Abdullahi Shinkafi have so far achieved under the FCC.
Ambassador Abdullahi Shinkafi a fair-minded leader, highly  honest, most accountable and cosmopolitan civil servant, who sees the entire country as his constituency is doing every thing possible to prevent the linkages, unethical appointments, difficulties in FCC and to review some of the lingering issues in FCC since when he was appointed as Chairman FCC. But, these has gone not positively okey with so many people and politicians in the country which made it as usual businesses in FCC .

Therefore, the need for campaign of intimidation, persecution, name-calling and baseless  allegation of sales of Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) appointment letter for N3 million by FCC arisen. This is not suprising, because a man who decided to do justice to the system will definetly encountered things like this.
Although,the Senate has disclosed that it would soon begin probe of alleged sales of Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) appointment letter for N3 million by Federal Character Commission (FCC). Reliable information  confirmed that, under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Abdullahi Shinkafi, the FCC has never for once issue an appointment letter regarding the NPA, talkless of collecting the sum of N3 million naira from some body to secure an appointment for him.

This allegation is clearly an ill-timed attempt by faceless self-centred individuals and traditionally non-compliant/unscrupulous politicians to truncate the ongoing efforts of the Ambassador Abdullahi Shinkafi to implement the required regulatory and administrative reforms needed to transform the Nigerian Federal Character Commission to the promised land under the change mantra of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The sole intention of the news report and the sponsors of those allegations is obviously in the concluding paragraph which reads “…. Apart from the allegation of selling appointments letter his tenure comes to an end on the

April 2020,  it, therefore, call for the appointment of a competent and season professional to replace Ambassador Abdullahi Shinkafi……”
The above quotation,  gave away the purpose of the write-up. A couple of months ago, a faceless politicians with a similar motives made an analogous call for the removal of Ambassador Abdullahi Shinkafi proffering similar arguments including his not being a qualified man for the job. Yet, God Almighty continue to defend his true servant.

It has become necessary to set the records straight and to dispel the mischievous misinformation designed to hoodwink Mr. President, The respected National Assembly members and other Nigerians into believing the spurious allusions and deductions. More so, if the sponsors of these fake allegations had been courageous enough to provide their evidence to defend their claims, we would welcome them, because we definetly knows that they are just pooling themselves and we would only have encouraged Ambassador Abdullahi Shinkafi to pursue justice from the appropriate legal quarters.
Infact, it is common knowledge that some unscrupulous politicians in the Assembly system have always shown their disdain for Ambassador Shinkafi and have used every opportunity to campaign against him.This is for the simple reason that Amb. Abdullahi Shinkafi is a very strict professional and a no-nonsense regulator.
It is also known, Sir, Amb. Shinkafi has been facing a running battle with some elements in the National Assembly on trifle issues since his appointment. This joint article, in our opinion, confirms the worst kept secret in the FCC before the coming of Amb. Shinkafi, that certain element of the National Assembly have pocketed some officials of the Federal Character Commission on illegal dealings  which Ambassador Shinkafi exposes at his arrival.

On the same note, any person involved with the Federal Character Commission in the recent years would have known of Amb. Abdullahi Shinkafi’s antecedents. Mr. Shinkafi came to national limelight when he was appointed as an Executive Chairman in a leading federal commission. Within a short period, he established himself as a renowned public civil servant, Professional and Manager whose qualities were immediately recognised with meteoric rise in reputation.These qualities earned him the reputation of the most competent Executive Chairman in the history of FCC. This reputation, then, like today, created animosity against him from powerful personalities and politicians which he can best explain if he so wishes. But it was common knowledge to us veterans that then, like today, the politicians effectively used other means to distract, frustrate and create questions on his reputation where none existed just to gain some cheap political points.

Contrary to the mischievous allegation against FCC under Mr. Shinkafi, the commission actually recorded an increase in accountability, transparency, reliability and efficiency on every sector of the Commission. It is important to state that the Commission is one of the few Sectors that continued to record growth with a Compounded Annual Growth Rate of 80%.
The alleged involvement and failure of the Mr. Shinkafi on the said sales of NPA appointment letters is untrue. The fact is that, we are aware that the Commission under Abdullahi Shinkafi has been carrying out serious investigation, on-site inspections and countless Off-site reviews of the way appointment letters are issue on a monthly, quarterly and annual returns. To our knowledge the Commission has always kept to its duties as contained in its laws.

Also, it is common knowledge that the Commission under the leadership of Ambassador Abdullahi Shinkafi has always prioritized compliance with the directives and policies of the Federal Government. Anyone who knows Ambassador Abdullahi Shinkafi can testify that it would be a fallacy to imagine that he would be involve in job racketeering.
To the credit of Amb. Abdullahi Shinkafi all the initiatives started under his management in order to improve the lot of the sector and to ensure justice through  checkmating the way appointment letters are awarded by the commission are challenged by both internal and external forces.  In some cases, this resulted in the withdrawal of some policies.


In a scathing attempt to demonize Amb. Abdullahi Shinkafi, those politicians and the said petitioners ludicrously alleged that the leadership of the FCC is directly involved in the sales of appointment letters for N3 million. While this allegation is clearly preposterous and unworthy of response, it is important to reiterate that some political factors who have gone far away on damaging the image of Amb. Abdullahi Shinkafi would never succeed.


The said allegators and petitioners also insinuated that Mr. Shinkafi disposition to “corrupt exploration” has led to various suits against the Commission. While this is a personal matter for Mr. Shinkafi to refute, we make haste to clarify that corruption is the act of an official or fiduciary person who unlawfully and wrongfully uses his station or character to procure some benefit for himself or for another person, contrary to duty and the rights of others. It is trite that “he who asserts must prove”. If a person asserts that a certain state of facts is present or absent, that would be an averment that he is bound to prove.


Suffice it to state that this allegations are baseless, malicious and tantamount to assassination of character considering that since the appointment of Mr. Shinkafi,  no evidence has been provided to substantiate the allegation that he has been involved in corrupt practices or sales of appointment letters in the Federal Character Commission.
While it is easy in Nigeria to circulate malicious allegations against public office holders, it is an incontrovertible fact that Mr. Abdullahi Shinkafi is a renowned practitioner with a track record of uncommon bravery and competence who had successfully managed many frontline institutions in Nigeria.


We are glad to note that, despite the smear campaign, Amb. Abdullahi Shinkafi (the Chairman Federal Character Commission), remains focused on his mission to implement the required radical regulatory, institutional and operational reforms of the commission in order to effectively reposition the sector as a significant component to the employment in Nigeria and would continue to do so with his usual uncommon courage and patriotism to the common good of the federal character sector and Nigeria in general.


This must be why the “evil elements” are afraid that if Amb. Abdullahi Shinkafi continue for a second term, they would be finally purged from the Nigerian Character Commission and the Commission, for the better.
Nasir writes from Abuja.

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