Magu vs Malami, Kachikwu vs Baru and 9 other infighting in Buhari's government
Magu vs Malami, Kachikwu vs Baru and 9 other infighting in Buhari's government
- One major characteristic in the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is the unending bickering among senior government officials
- The officials are caught in the web of power play as they battle to outwit one other
- These infighting have created the impression that President Muhammadu Buhari is not in charge of his government
Officials of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration have thrown caution to the wind in the last few months.
The media has been awash with stories of infighting and bickering among senior government officials, as President Buhari appears helpless to nip the crisis in the bud.
Some of the key players in the government are not left out in these show of shame, thereby hampering government business and creating unnecessary distractions.
11 major bickering rocking Nigeria's federal government
Daily Trust lists the 11 major bickering within the federal government since the present administration came on board.
1. Magu Vs Malami
The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) and the acting boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu were involved in a pubic spat which raised doubts about the Buhari's government's sincerity in fighting corruption.
Malami had specifically blamed Magu for causing the suspension of Nigeria from the Egmont Group, an international anti-corruption body with over 135 member countries. The AGF had also accused the EFCC boss of breaching Section 10 (1) of the EFCC Act which states that the EFCC must send complex cases to the AGF for better cooperation and prosecution.
The minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, however disclosed that President Buhari was investigating the feud between both men.
“The president is aware and is investigating it. He is the employer of both of them. There are divergent views between the AGF and the EFCC chairman and the appropriate authorities will look into it”, Mohammed told a popular TV station.
2. Aisha Buhari Vs Presidency
First Lady Aisha Buhari recently, publicly upbraided the Chief Medical Director of the State House Medical Centre, Dr. Husain Munir, for the poor state of the health facility established to take care of the president, vice-president, their families as well as members of staff of the presidential villa, Abuja.
Aisha also admitted that Nigeria was unstable in the last six months owing largely to the her husband’s ill-health that forced him to remain outside the country for months.
Maintaining that the budget allocated to the clinic must be accounted for, she said: “I am sure Dr. Munir will not like me saying this but I have to say it out. As the Chief Medical Director, there are a lot of constructions going on in this hospital but there is no single syringe there.
The first lady had last year, openly criticized her husband for certain decisions he took regarding his government.
3. Hameed Ali Vs Senate
Earlier in the year, the Senate asked the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd), to appear “in plenary in uniform unfailingly.” The senators had previously attacked Ali for honouring their invitation without wearing uniform.
The invitation came when members of the Senate were pushing for drastic action against the NCS and the CG over the refusal to suspend action on the proposed clampdown on vehicles without duty payment, as ordered by the legislature.
Part of the actions proposed by the senate was to summon Ali to appear before all the lawmakers in the chamber in Customs uniform, which the NSC boss had earlier refused to wear.
But Ali called the bluff of the Senate, saying he would not honour the invitation extended to him by the upper legislative chamber to appear before them in uniform.
He said his attendance at the Senate plenary as scheduled by the federal lawmakers would be subjudice.
4. Magu Vs DSS
EFCC boss, Ibrahim Magu, assumed office on November 9, 2015 as acting chairman of the agency following his appointed two days earlier by President Buhari to succeed Ibrahim Lamorde. But the Senate declined to confirm Magu as substantive chairman of the EFCC on December 15, 2015 based on an incriminating report by the DSS.
Though he was presented again to the upper chamber in January after an alleged executive inquest absolved him of wrongdoing, Magu was rejected for the second time by the Senate on March 15 during its confirmation hearing.
A second report by the DSS, portrayed Magu as tainted and unfit to head the anti-graft body. It referred to indictments of the EFCC boss by disciplinary authorities and his alleged illegal sharing of classified materials.
Responding to the query through the AGF, Abubakar Malami, on the DSS allegations, Magu said that it was not true that some documents relating to cases under investigation were found his house when his residence was searched on the orders of Mrs. Farida Waziri, shortly after she succeeded Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as EFCC chairman.
5. Hameed Ali Vs Kemi Adeosun
There was disagreement between the Customs boss and the minister of finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun who took different positions on the revenue accruing into the money spinning para-military government agency.
The rift between the duo came to public awareness when Ali promoted and demoted some men and officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) without recourse to the finance minister. Matters came to a head in the National Assembly when the duo appeared to defend their 2016 budget before the Senate committee on finance.
The rift was obvious when Ali and Adeosun gave divergent figures and positions on items and figures in their budgets.
6. Magu Vs Senate
Twice, the Nigerian Senate had rejected the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the EFCC. The lawmakers said their decision was informed by a security report made available to them by the DSS.
The presidency had since July last year requested the Senate to confirm Magu as EFCC boss through a letter signed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in his capacity as acting president when President Buhari was away on medical vacation.
Although the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, read the vice-president’s letter on July 14, 2016 the red chamber failed to schedule a confirmation hearing fueling suspicions that some corrupt senators were bent on blocking Magu from the position.
Following widespread pressure from Nigerians, the lawmakers fixed December 8, 2016 for the session but that also failed to materialise. Consequently, the Senate went into a standoff with the presidency, vowing to stand down all requests for confirmation into executive positions in the federal government. The Senate’s stance was based on the challenge from Osinbajo (then acting president) to the Senate’s capacity to confirm certain nominees of the executive into federal bodies.
The lawmakers who were particularly miffed by the continued stay in office of Magu as chairman of the EFCC, despite his rejection by the Senate on two occasions, passed a resolution asking the acting president to apologise for his challenge to the Senate’s power to confirm persons into certain executive bodies.
7. NHIS boss Vs Health minister
Usman Yusuf, a professor of pediatrics, who came on board as the executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) last year, was given a marching order by minister of health; Professor Isaac Adewole, to proceed on suspension for three months, following mounting petitions against alleged fraudulent practices and nepotism by concerned groups.
The letter suspending Yusuf was given to him on July 6, directing him to go on three months suspension to pave the way for an independent probe of the mountains of petitions against him.
However, in a daring tone, Professor Yusuf fired back at the health minister on July 12, telling him to his face that he could not proceed on the suspension as the minister lacks the power to sanction him. Yusuf pointedly told Adewole that it was only the president who appointed him, that could remove him from office, which has tenure of five years in the first instance and another five, if renewed.
Although the House of Representatives, in a resolution against the suspension gave the minister seven days to reinstate him, the health ministry maintained that it had the right to suspend Yusuf and that he would remain suspended. The ministry later wrote to the Nigeria Police Force to secure the NHIS headquarters in Utako, Abuja, after vows by the suspended Executive Secretary to resume.
The ministry recently, issued another statement extending the suspension indefinitely.
8. ‘Mama Taraba’ Vs President Buhari
The minister of women affairs, Aisha Alhassan, announced her endorsement of a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, for the 2019 presidential election.
The minister, popularly known as ‘Mama Taraba’ made the endorsement when she led a private visit to the former vice president who is a chieftain of Nigeria’s ruling APC.
Mrs. Alhassan who was the APC governorship candidate in Taraba in the 2015 election restated her position during an interview with BBC Hausa. She added that even if President Muhammadu Buhari decides to contest in 2019, she would still support Abubakar.
Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, criticized Alhassan for stance but said, he was not surprised that the minister openly endorsed former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. El-Rufai also revealed that the minister was not in Buhari’s camp during the presidential primary election of the APC and has never supported the president’s ideology. 11 major bickering rocking Nigeria's federal government
9. IGP Idris Vs Senator Misau
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, and the chairman, Senate committee on Navy, Senator Isah Misau.
Misau, a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), on August 10, alleged that policemen pay as much as N500, 000 for “Special promotion.” The senator told newsmen that he was tired of complaints of bribe for promotions and transfer to “juicy” duty posts in the force as well as the Police Service Commission (PSC).
The senator also accused the IGP of collecting N120billion as payment for special security services rendered by the police to corporate bodies and oil firms, among others, annually.
The police through the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, in return, accused Misau of exiting the police unceremoniously, to escape punishment for misconducts and other inappropriate behaviours.
The police declared Misau a deserter, vowing to declare himwanted, but the senator swiftly denied the allegations.
Before the dust could settle down, the senator fired another salvo, accusing the IGP of sexual impropriety with female police officers and abuse of office. The senator alleged at the Senate’s plenary that the Idris had impregnated two female police officers and secretly married one in Kaduna.
Consequently, the Senate set-up an 8-member committee to probe IGP Idris on the allegations leveled against him by Senator Misau.
However, the IGP has approached an Abuja Federal High Court, praying it restrain the Senate from carrying out the probe, explaining that it was against his fundamental rights.
Earlier, the federal government through the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, filed charges against Misau, bordering on alleged falsehood against the IGP.
10. Sagay Vs APC
Earlier in July, a verbal warfare broke out between the leadership of the APC and Professor Itse Sagay, one of the key aides directing President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption fight. Sagay, chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC), had in a national newspaper, described the APC leadership as lily-livered, weak and incompetent.
Sagay had said: “As for the leadership of the APC, I think they are the most unprincipled group of people. They are lily-livered, weak, and cannot run any organisation. The whole party is collapsing under them. They cannot control anybody. Because they cannot control anybody, they’re now, in fact, encouraging and accepting ‘rogues.’ ”
The National Working Committee of the APC promptly fired back, describing Sagay as a ‘rogue elephant’, while also warning all appointees of President Buhari to show respect and decorum to the party which won the victory that made them occupy the offices they hold.
Part of the statement issued by the APC had read: “Clearly, if we have today, anyone in our government or, by extension, the party who feels accountable only to his own ego; who does not feel the need to bridle his tongue for the sake of anything that is higher than himself; who feels independent of everyone and every institution; that person is Professor Sagay.”
11. Kachikwu Vs Baru
The minister of state for petroleum resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, recently released a ‘bombshell’ letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, accusing the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru of flagrant violation of due process in the award of contracts and acts of insubordination.
In the letter to the president, which was leaked to the media, the minister accused the NNPC boss of labelling him as “corrupt”, “anti-north,” and also being “in collusion with militants”, in order to convince the president on the need to side-line him in the decision-making process in the state-run oil firm. Kachikwu also alleged that Baru awarded about $24 billion major contracts without his input or review by the NNPC board.
After maintaining initial silence, the NNPC described the allegations by Kachikwu as baseless, even as it accused the minister of exaggerating and concocting figures to give vent to his claims.
Kachikwu later met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa but declined to speak with reporters on the outcome of their meeting. Although the two aggrieved government officials (Kachikwu and Baru) eventually met at a public function in Abuja last week where they exchanged handshakes, not many were convinced that the dust raised between the two top players in the petroleum industry is settled.
Read more: naij
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