June 18, 2008
Senator Florence Ita Giwa was at pains to explain on the floor of the upper chamber of the National Assembly last Tuesday that contrary to media reports, she voluntarily resigned from her position as the National Assembly Liaison Officer of President Umar Yar’Adua. The socialite cum politician, while introducing her successor in the position, Senator Abba Aji, told the lawmakers that she decided to put in her resignation so as to concentrate more on the task of the resettlement of the Cross River State-based Bakkasi people, whose disputed territory has been ceded to Cameroun in accordance with the judgment International Court of Justice.
To help in further buttressing the assertions, Giwa’s successor gleefully brought out and displayed before the lawmakers, a letter written by the President in which he commended the former liaison officer for her services. The import of that drama was not lost to the lawmakers and others present at the upper chamber on that day: President Yar’Adua has been under criticisms of recent over observed lopsidedness in terms of the regional origin and in some cases, religious persuasion of his recent appointees to public office. In the case of Senator Giwa for instance , the argument in the public domain is not weather she resigned out of her volition or not, but the alleged penchant of Nigeria’s number one political office holder to always replace appointees from the Southern part of the country with somebody from the North. This is more so, as critics argue, the same is not always the same when the person leaving the position is of the Northern origin. For example, just as Senator Abba Aji was being announced to succeed Senator Giwa about two weeks ago, a new Comptroller General was also announced for the Nigeria Customs Service. The difference in the Customs’ case was that it was a case of a Northerner being appointed to replace another Northerner, as Jacob Buba Gyang from Taraba State was replaced with Hamman Hamed from Adamawa State. The appointment of Hamed as the new boss of Customs service was even more galling to critics who noted that there are at least three Deputy Comptrollers of the NCS ahead of him who could have succeeded Gyang. In a statement released on the occasion of one year anniversary of Yar’Adua administration on 29, May Afenifere, the Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group after a comprehensive review, noted that with recent appointments at the federal level, there has been a “deliberate attempt to northernise power” in the past twelve months by the President. “Like the witch lady which continue to give birth to female children, the President has continued to load his appointments with Northerners that we can say without equivocation on his first anniversary that we have a Federal Government of the North”, the group said in a statement published in most Nigerian newspapers. The group then went on to catalogue recent appointments at the federal level to prove its assertions: “The latest of such appointments have been the replacement of the President’s National Assembly liaison officer, Senator Florence Ita Giwa with Senator Abba Aji, NTA’s Director General, Toni Iredia with Usman Megawata, EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Larmode with Farida Waziri, and Customs Comptroller General, Gyang Buba with Hamman Ahmed. Ahmed is an Assistant Comptroller with Southern Deputy Comptrollers from the South ahead of him”.Femi Orebe, a columnist with The Nation newspaper spoke in the same vein in a recent article. “Twice on this column I have addressed the issue of President Yar’Adua running nothing but a Northern government as far as appointment into key positions is concerned. I have this feeling that were he not obliged by the constitution to appoint a minister from each state of the federation, he jolly well might not have appointed any from the South!” However, while constitutional provision and guidelines of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP have ensured a fairly balanced spread among the 36 States of the federation in terms of the numbers of political appointments, there have also been criticisms that the most strategic ministerial portfolios have been allocated to the Northern section of the country.
In its statement for instance, Afenifere listed out some officials and their cabinet positions to justify its allegations that a section of the country is being given an undue advantage by President Yar’Adua in appointment into important public offices. As analysed by the group, key offices currently in the firm grip of Northerners under the present administration include that of the Presidency being held by President Umaru Yar’Adua (Katsina); Senate President Senator David Mark (Benue); Chief Justice Justice Legbo Kutigi (Niger); Secretary to the Federal Government, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe (Borno); Energy & Power Minister Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua (Katsina), Minister of Finance Dr. Shamsudeen Bello (Kano); Minister of Defence Alhaji Yayale Ahmed (Bauchi); Minister of National Planning Sanusi Daggash (Borno); Chief Economic Adviser Tanimu Kurfi (Katsina); Director General State Security Services, Afas Gadzama (Yobe); Accountant General of the Federation, Ibrahim Dankwabo (North); Controller-General, Customs, Hamman Ahmed (Adamawa); Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa (Benue); EFCC Farida Waziri (Benue); NTA Director General, Usman Magawata (Sokoto); National Assembly Liaison Senator Aba Aji (North); Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Group Managing Director, Engineer Abubakar Yar’Adua (Katsina); Police Reforms Panel, Alhaji M.D. Yusufu (Katsina); Energy Council, Rilwan Lukman (Kaduna); Electoral Reforms, Justice M.Uwais (Katsina).
The domination of Northerners in appointments into some key positions and ministerial posts according to Afenifere has created a situation in which other sections of the country may not be represented during meetings where key important decisions about the country are being made: “We pointed out that the patterns of appointment created a situation where the Joint Intelligence Board, which co-ordinates information sharing between the security agencies would meet and there may not be a non-northern face. On the economic front, the Ministers for National Planning and Finance would sit with the Chief Economic Adviser to develop policy for the whole country and they are all from the North.” How justified is the group criticisms? For one, sources close to the presidency argued that the election of Yar’Adua as the nation’s president was not just his own making as he emerged as the candidate of the then ruling PDP and went on to win the election as a result of the rotation policy of the party. PDP had zoned the presidency to the North during the last election. The same argument can be put up in defense of the emergence of another Northerner, David Mark as the Senate President, a position regarded as the third topmost political office in the country.
In the same vein, Idris Legbo Kutigi was appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria by Yar’Adua predecessor, former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Also, a careful perusal of the origins of the five Special Advisers and 13 Senior Special Assistants SSAP, announced last year will reveal a fairly balanced spread among different sections of the country. The full-time Special Advisers include Mr Olusegun Adeniyi (Communications), Senator Florence Ita-Giwa (National Assembly), Mr Joseph Makoju (Electric Power) and Dr Tunji Olagunju (NEPAD). The two Honourary Advisers are the former Presidential Adviser on Petroleum Dr Rilwanu Lukman who was appointed as Honourary Adviser on Energy and Strategic Matters and Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN). The list of the 13 SSAs includes Foluseke Shomolu (SSAP, Power Reform), Mr Mathew Aikionbare (SSAP – C-in-C – Secretarial & Speech Writer), Captain Shehu Iyal (SSAP, Aviation) and Alhaji Inua Baba (SSAP – Protocol). Florence Ita Giwa and Somolu have been sacked.
Others include the four Captains under the Presidential Air Fleet, PAF – Usaini Bitrus Haruna, Baba Mohammed, Tunde Edorhe and Ismaila Dahiru Waziri. They are all SSAP (PAF). Ima Niboro, the SSAP (Media) is in charge of media relations in the office of the Vice President. The three SSAPs appointed to work under the Chief of Staff include Deaconess J.O Ayo (SSAP – Economics), Dr Gbolade Osinowo (SSAP – Politics) and Princess Gloria Iweka (SSAP – Projects Monitoring). Mr Ad’Obe Obe retains his portfolio as SSAP (SERVICOM). Dr Gbolade Osinowo is now the acting Chief of Staff to the President. Other appointments made by President Yar’Adua in this category include that of the former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, who is the Deputy Chief of Staff (DCOS) to the Vice President and Mr Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, the President’s Chief Economic Adviser.
It will, however, be hard to put up a credible defence for the lopsidedness in the constitution of some of the critical committees that have been set up by the President. Curiously, all the committees are also headed or chaired by appointees from the same part of the country. The 21 man Constitution Reform Committee, the Police Reform Committee and the Presidential Committee on Accelerated Expansion of Power Infrastructure were all headed by Notherners. Former Chief Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais was called out of his retirement to head a 21-man committee on electoral reform that has been going round the country to collate the views of Nigerians on how to give the country a better electoral system. Other members of the committee include former Inspector General of Police Musiliu Smith, former External Affairs Minister, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Professor Grace Alele-Williams, former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN Mrs. Toyin Olakunri, President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Olisa Agbakoba, Vice Chancellor of the Bayero University, Kano, BUK Professor Attahiru Jega, General Oladayo Popoola (retd) and General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC John Odoh. Other include Justice Godwin U. Omoniba (retd), Alhaji Ahmadu Kirfi, Sheikh Ahmed Lenu, Jibril Ibrahim, Professor Okon Uya, Professor Gambo Balarabe Abdullahi, Ndanusa Alao, Hajiya Dije Bala, head of Transition Monitoring Group, TMG Festus Okoye, Alhaji Aliyu Umar, Abdurahim Ujo and Steven Dike. But the headship of the Electoral Reform Committee by Uwais can be defended. After all, he was Nigeria’s chief justice for about 11 years. Furthermore, membership of the committee is fairly spread across the nooks and crannies of the country. But one committee which composition really set tongues wagging is that on Police Reform. There was no representative from the South West in the Committee made up of former police officers despite the fact that the sub- region has produced many retired but still active Inspector Generals of Police. Afenifere had immeadiately faulted composition of the panel. In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, the group said the non-inclusion of a Yoruba person in the 16-man panel was unacceptable to the South- West people: “In an ideal situation, we would have expected a broadminded President to ensure that each geo-political zone in the country has at least three members in a 22-man committee. Or is the President saying the Yoruba do not need policing? Or are we no longer part of Nigeria? We will not buy any argument that Yar‘Adua is only picking people on competence without geography. Will that explain why the chairmen of his Political Reform Panel and Police Reform Committee are both from Kastina , while the chairman of the Energy Council is from Zaria ?”, queried the group. The new Transitional Board of Directors for the Power Holding Company of Nigeria PHCN also has as its chairman the Minister of state for Power, Mrs Fatima Ibrahim. “There are speculations that Alhaji Bello Sulaiman would be re-appointed as GMD of PHCN while another northerner may replace CBN Governor, Charles Soludo soon.” Apologists of Yar’Adua may want to say that governance is about sourcing for the best hands no matter their origin. But even Olusegun Obasanjo, in spite of his many vices, could not be accused of finding the best hands among only the Yoruba in his eight years in office, the Yoruba socio-political group said in its condemnation of recent appointments made by the President.
One area which many Nigerians had hoped the President would make a difference when allocating portfolios was in the appointment of a minister for Federal Capital Territory, FCT. The substantive ministers that have held forth at the capital city, especially since it started functioning as the seat of the federal government with exception of one Professor Mariam Ikejiani-Clark who held forth from 1993-1997 have been Northerners. Past FCT ministers include Malam Nasir el-Rufai, who was in charge of the city from 2003 to 2007. He took over from Engineer Abba Gana who was on the seat between 2000 to 2003. Architect Bunu Sheriff was in charge of the territory between 1999 to year 2000. Lieutenant-General Jerry Useni (retd) was the Minister from 1993 to 1998. He succeeded Major-General Gado Nasko, who was in the office from 1989 to 1993.
The hope was that Yar’Adua will break this cycle by appointing for once a substantive cabinet minister of Southern origin for FCT. This was moreso with the earlier appointment of an Executive Secretary of Northern origin for the Territory. That expectation, however, came to nought with the appointment of Dr Aliyu Modibbo Umar from Gombe State as the FCT Minister: “It would have made sense as well as rejuvenated the flagging nationalist morale for government to appoint a non-northerner as minister for the Federal Capital Territory, if only to break the ossifying but deplorable political tradition of treating the municipality as a northern capital territory,” Ibadan-based Nigerian Tribune wrote last August in reaction to the appointment. This magazine however gathered that a cabal mostly made up of members of the President’s kitchen cabinet might be exploring Yar’Adua’s limited national outreach to feather their nest by appointing their lackeys into key government positions. As has been widely reported, President Yar’Adua was virtually a recluse before he was foisted on Nigerians by the former President. There are rumours for example that Yar’Adua had never visited some of the states in the Southern part of the country before he started campaigning for the office. The president was also said not to be a regular attendee at the regularly held forum of Nigeria’s 36 State governors when he was Katsina State helmsman. In an interview with TheNEWS last year, former governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Sani, who is now a senator, noted that Yar’Adua had a reputation for not attending other governors’ events while he was governor of Katsina State. That attitude profoundly works against him, as he has not made enough friends across the country.
This limited exposure, Professor Pat Utomi said in an interview last month now constitutes one of the biggest impediments to the success of the Yar’Adua presidency: “He does not have a Nigerian breath or scope. How many friends does he have in Bayelsa State? How many friends does he have in Oyo State? If you wake me up, I can count you ten friends in Borno and I don’t mean friends you just call and say good morning, I am talking of people you can make use of their competent skills… You know the best guys everywhere. You pull them together and say, ‘this is our country, this is what we need in our country, let’s move it forward and make it happen.’ I don’t think a person whose exposure is less than that is the ideal person to be entrusted with the task of moving Nigeria forward”.
Also, Mahmud Jega, a former editor of the influential New Nigerian newspapers also lamented about the dangers of the President’s limited circle of friends in his recent column. Jega who now edits Abuja-based Daily Trust newspaper said it is unfortunate that most of the aides close to the President are his associates from his days as the Governor of Katsina State. “They include the Chief Economic Adviser, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu, the Agriculture and Water Resources Minister, Dr. Abba Sayyadi Ruma, and the controversial businessman Alhaji Dahiru Mangal.
Other men known to have the president’s ear include the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Ambassador Babagana Kingibe [who had a long up-and-down relationship with the late General Shehu Yar’Adua] and the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar. Danger here is all these men are Northern Muslims”, noted the newspaper editor. Throw in the trio of Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State, former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, and the incumbent governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema, and you will have the most powerful group in Yar’Adua presidency who decides where certain positions should go to.
The close aides of the president were alleged to have been the brains behind the recent resignation from the cabinet of Abdullahi Mohammed. It was gathered that they have put pressure on Yar’Adua to sack the COS in the past 12 months as a way of gradually doing away with elements associated with the government of former President Obasanjo. Indeed, some newspaper reports in the early weeks of Yar’Adua administration had indicated the imminence of the emergence of Taminu as Yar’Adua’s COS. The report in a newspaper based in Abuja even indicated that the President’s Chief Economic Adviser will effectively step in as COS to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on 26, August 26, 2007 while Abdullahi, will proceed on leave. But the report, which was said to have embarrassed President Yar’Adua led to a temporary relocation of the office of the former Katsina State commissioner of finance, economic planning and budget out of the villa. He has however continued to enjoy high visibility in government. It was gathered that for the searing criticisms of Afenifere, he would have been appointed immediately to replace Abdullahi. With the recent announcement of an imminent cabinet reshuffle by the President, it was gathered that the trio of Tanimu, Kingibe and Abba Sayyadi have become beautiful brides now being courted by ministers who do not want to lose their jobs, as well as those aspiring to be appointed into the cabinet. The trio are said to be part of the group evaluating the performance of the Ministers. Critics however argued that if the trio continues to influence appointments there may not be a change from the recent trend. But in a media chat broadcast on national television, President Yar’Adua had defended the appointments: “Appointments made so far are usually based on merit. Take for example the nine parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Information, only two are from the North while the other heads are from the South even at that those appointments were based purely on merit.”
The fear however is that if the recent trend continues, the country may retuurn to the days in which a section of the country was in total control of all the offices in the land. What Yar’Adua needs to learn, according to Jega, “is the need to surround oneself with a national clique, so that when trouble comes, as is inevitable, it would not assume sectional dimensions. After all, what is so difficult in recruiting a clique from all parts of the country when you have presidential power in your hands? Former governor of Sokoto State and presidential candidate of Democratic People’s Party, DPP, in the last presidential election, Attahiru Bafarawa also advised Yar’Adua that the only way he can run a successful administration is to come out of what he described as his “present cocoon”.
“The first step for him is to come out of the cave he has found himself. He should assemble a good team,” he said. Though a trenchant critic of Obasanjo, Bafarawa said one virtue Yar’Adua can emulate from Obasanjo is the assembly of a good, broad-based team. “If he wants to move this country forward, he must emulate Obasanjo for once. You know Obasanjo assembled a good team from home and abroad. And it helped in some achievements of his administration… He (Yar’Adua) needs to come out and assemble the best,” the former Sokoto State governor said in a recent interview. In the same vein, Ropo Sekoni, another columnist with The Nation Newspaper, said the concentration of key agencies and ministries in the hands of people from one part of the country is not the right way to go if President Yar’Adua is interested in nurturing the nation’s democracy and unity: “To have three chairmen of EFCC in a row from the same region, give core ministries to a certain region, while inundating other regions with peripheral ministries or turning one region into a fertile producer of ministers or by-passing federal officers from one region for another officer from the President’s region on the basis of the former’s proximity to retirement age, are all capable of giving the wrong impression that the President is sectional and partial.” The columnist advised the President that federal character, like affirmative action in other countries, can be used to achieve national integration.
Yet, there were fresh fears last week that the lopsidedness in appointments may continue, even as the government is set to appoint new helmsmen for federal government agencies and parastatals. It was gathered that a list of potential appointees drawn up and submitted to President Yar’Adua by the SGF was rejected by some stakeholders in the ruling PDP. Their grouse, it was gathered, was that the North-West zone where the President is from was unduly favoured in the number of nominees contained in the list. According to a source, the North-West was allocated 120 slots and the South-East 115. And the quality of the board positions pencilled down for people from the President’s zone raised eyebrows compared to those intended for people from the other zones. Just like in the ministerial appointments, it was gathered that nominees from the North-West had been pencilled down for appointments in parastatals and agencies in the oil, maritime, energy sectors and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The North-West which has the presidency was pencilled down for juicy board appointments in Grade A agencies like NNPC, PPMC, NPA, FCDA and others,” a national newspaper reported last Thursday, quoting a PDP source. It was gathered that the complaints forced the President to return the list to zonal caucuses of PDP. But will Yar’Adua respond to these complaints by showing some even-handedness?
To help in further buttressing the assertions, Giwa’s successor gleefully brought out and displayed before the lawmakers, a letter written by the President in which he commended the former liaison officer for her services. The import of that drama was not lost to the lawmakers and others present at the upper chamber on that day: President Yar’Adua has been under criticisms of recent over observed lopsidedness in terms of the regional origin and in some cases, religious persuasion of his recent appointees to public office. In the case of Senator Giwa for instance , the argument in the public domain is not weather she resigned out of her volition or not, but the alleged penchant of Nigeria’s number one political office holder to always replace appointees from the Southern part of the country with somebody from the North. This is more so, as critics argue, the same is not always the same when the person leaving the position is of the Northern origin. For example, just as Senator Abba Aji was being announced to succeed Senator Giwa about two weeks ago, a new Comptroller General was also announced for the Nigeria Customs Service. The difference in the Customs’ case was that it was a case of a Northerner being appointed to replace another Northerner, as Jacob Buba Gyang from Taraba State was replaced with Hamman Hamed from Adamawa State. The appointment of Hamed as the new boss of Customs service was even more galling to critics who noted that there are at least three Deputy Comptrollers of the NCS ahead of him who could have succeeded Gyang. In a statement released on the occasion of one year anniversary of Yar’Adua administration on 29, May Afenifere, the Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group after a comprehensive review, noted that with recent appointments at the federal level, there has been a “deliberate attempt to northernise power” in the past twelve months by the President. “Like the witch lady which continue to give birth to female children, the President has continued to load his appointments with Northerners that we can say without equivocation on his first anniversary that we have a Federal Government of the North”, the group said in a statement published in most Nigerian newspapers. The group then went on to catalogue recent appointments at the federal level to prove its assertions: “The latest of such appointments have been the replacement of the President’s National Assembly liaison officer, Senator Florence Ita Giwa with Senator Abba Aji, NTA’s Director General, Toni Iredia with Usman Megawata, EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Larmode with Farida Waziri, and Customs Comptroller General, Gyang Buba with Hamman Ahmed. Ahmed is an Assistant Comptroller with Southern Deputy Comptrollers from the South ahead of him”.Femi Orebe, a columnist with The Nation newspaper spoke in the same vein in a recent article. “Twice on this column I have addressed the issue of President Yar’Adua running nothing but a Northern government as far as appointment into key positions is concerned. I have this feeling that were he not obliged by the constitution to appoint a minister from each state of the federation, he jolly well might not have appointed any from the South!” However, while constitutional provision and guidelines of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP have ensured a fairly balanced spread among the 36 States of the federation in terms of the numbers of political appointments, there have also been criticisms that the most strategic ministerial portfolios have been allocated to the Northern section of the country.
In its statement for instance, Afenifere listed out some officials and their cabinet positions to justify its allegations that a section of the country is being given an undue advantage by President Yar’Adua in appointment into important public offices. As analysed by the group, key offices currently in the firm grip of Northerners under the present administration include that of the Presidency being held by President Umaru Yar’Adua (Katsina); Senate President Senator David Mark (Benue); Chief Justice Justice Legbo Kutigi (Niger); Secretary to the Federal Government, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe (Borno); Energy & Power Minister Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua (Katsina), Minister of Finance Dr. Shamsudeen Bello (Kano); Minister of Defence Alhaji Yayale Ahmed (Bauchi); Minister of National Planning Sanusi Daggash (Borno); Chief Economic Adviser Tanimu Kurfi (Katsina); Director General State Security Services, Afas Gadzama (Yobe); Accountant General of the Federation, Ibrahim Dankwabo (North); Controller-General, Customs, Hamman Ahmed (Adamawa); Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa (Benue); EFCC Farida Waziri (Benue); NTA Director General, Usman Magawata (Sokoto); National Assembly Liaison Senator Aba Aji (North); Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Group Managing Director, Engineer Abubakar Yar’Adua (Katsina); Police Reforms Panel, Alhaji M.D. Yusufu (Katsina); Energy Council, Rilwan Lukman (Kaduna); Electoral Reforms, Justice M.Uwais (Katsina).
The domination of Northerners in appointments into some key positions and ministerial posts according to Afenifere has created a situation in which other sections of the country may not be represented during meetings where key important decisions about the country are being made: “We pointed out that the patterns of appointment created a situation where the Joint Intelligence Board, which co-ordinates information sharing between the security agencies would meet and there may not be a non-northern face. On the economic front, the Ministers for National Planning and Finance would sit with the Chief Economic Adviser to develop policy for the whole country and they are all from the North.” How justified is the group criticisms? For one, sources close to the presidency argued that the election of Yar’Adua as the nation’s president was not just his own making as he emerged as the candidate of the then ruling PDP and went on to win the election as a result of the rotation policy of the party. PDP had zoned the presidency to the North during the last election. The same argument can be put up in defense of the emergence of another Northerner, David Mark as the Senate President, a position regarded as the third topmost political office in the country.
In the same vein, Idris Legbo Kutigi was appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria by Yar’Adua predecessor, former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Also, a careful perusal of the origins of the five Special Advisers and 13 Senior Special Assistants SSAP, announced last year will reveal a fairly balanced spread among different sections of the country. The full-time Special Advisers include Mr Olusegun Adeniyi (Communications), Senator Florence Ita-Giwa (National Assembly), Mr Joseph Makoju (Electric Power) and Dr Tunji Olagunju (NEPAD). The two Honourary Advisers are the former Presidential Adviser on Petroleum Dr Rilwanu Lukman who was appointed as Honourary Adviser on Energy and Strategic Matters and Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN). The list of the 13 SSAs includes Foluseke Shomolu (SSAP, Power Reform), Mr Mathew Aikionbare (SSAP – C-in-C – Secretarial & Speech Writer), Captain Shehu Iyal (SSAP, Aviation) and Alhaji Inua Baba (SSAP – Protocol). Florence Ita Giwa and Somolu have been sacked.
Others include the four Captains under the Presidential Air Fleet, PAF – Usaini Bitrus Haruna, Baba Mohammed, Tunde Edorhe and Ismaila Dahiru Waziri. They are all SSAP (PAF). Ima Niboro, the SSAP (Media) is in charge of media relations in the office of the Vice President. The three SSAPs appointed to work under the Chief of Staff include Deaconess J.O Ayo (SSAP – Economics), Dr Gbolade Osinowo (SSAP – Politics) and Princess Gloria Iweka (SSAP – Projects Monitoring). Mr Ad’Obe Obe retains his portfolio as SSAP (SERVICOM). Dr Gbolade Osinowo is now the acting Chief of Staff to the President. Other appointments made by President Yar’Adua in this category include that of the former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, who is the Deputy Chief of Staff (DCOS) to the Vice President and Mr Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, the President’s Chief Economic Adviser.
It will, however, be hard to put up a credible defence for the lopsidedness in the constitution of some of the critical committees that have been set up by the President. Curiously, all the committees are also headed or chaired by appointees from the same part of the country. The 21 man Constitution Reform Committee, the Police Reform Committee and the Presidential Committee on Accelerated Expansion of Power Infrastructure were all headed by Notherners. Former Chief Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais was called out of his retirement to head a 21-man committee on electoral reform that has been going round the country to collate the views of Nigerians on how to give the country a better electoral system. Other members of the committee include former Inspector General of Police Musiliu Smith, former External Affairs Minister, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Professor Grace Alele-Williams, former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN Mrs. Toyin Olakunri, President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Olisa Agbakoba, Vice Chancellor of the Bayero University, Kano, BUK Professor Attahiru Jega, General Oladayo Popoola (retd) and General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC John Odoh. Other include Justice Godwin U. Omoniba (retd), Alhaji Ahmadu Kirfi, Sheikh Ahmed Lenu, Jibril Ibrahim, Professor Okon Uya, Professor Gambo Balarabe Abdullahi, Ndanusa Alao, Hajiya Dije Bala, head of Transition Monitoring Group, TMG Festus Okoye, Alhaji Aliyu Umar, Abdurahim Ujo and Steven Dike. But the headship of the Electoral Reform Committee by Uwais can be defended. After all, he was Nigeria’s chief justice for about 11 years. Furthermore, membership of the committee is fairly spread across the nooks and crannies of the country. But one committee which composition really set tongues wagging is that on Police Reform. There was no representative from the South West in the Committee made up of former police officers despite the fact that the sub- region has produced many retired but still active Inspector Generals of Police. Afenifere had immeadiately faulted composition of the panel. In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, the group said the non-inclusion of a Yoruba person in the 16-man panel was unacceptable to the South- West people: “In an ideal situation, we would have expected a broadminded President to ensure that each geo-political zone in the country has at least three members in a 22-man committee. Or is the President saying the Yoruba do not need policing? Or are we no longer part of Nigeria? We will not buy any argument that Yar‘Adua is only picking people on competence without geography. Will that explain why the chairmen of his Political Reform Panel and Police Reform Committee are both from Kastina , while the chairman of the Energy Council is from Zaria ?”, queried the group. The new Transitional Board of Directors for the Power Holding Company of Nigeria PHCN also has as its chairman the Minister of state for Power, Mrs Fatima Ibrahim. “There are speculations that Alhaji Bello Sulaiman would be re-appointed as GMD of PHCN while another northerner may replace CBN Governor, Charles Soludo soon.” Apologists of Yar’Adua may want to say that governance is about sourcing for the best hands no matter their origin. But even Olusegun Obasanjo, in spite of his many vices, could not be accused of finding the best hands among only the Yoruba in his eight years in office, the Yoruba socio-political group said in its condemnation of recent appointments made by the President.
One area which many Nigerians had hoped the President would make a difference when allocating portfolios was in the appointment of a minister for Federal Capital Territory, FCT. The substantive ministers that have held forth at the capital city, especially since it started functioning as the seat of the federal government with exception of one Professor Mariam Ikejiani-Clark who held forth from 1993-1997 have been Northerners. Past FCT ministers include Malam Nasir el-Rufai, who was in charge of the city from 2003 to 2007. He took over from Engineer Abba Gana who was on the seat between 2000 to 2003. Architect Bunu Sheriff was in charge of the territory between 1999 to year 2000. Lieutenant-General Jerry Useni (retd) was the Minister from 1993 to 1998. He succeeded Major-General Gado Nasko, who was in the office from 1989 to 1993.
The hope was that Yar’Adua will break this cycle by appointing for once a substantive cabinet minister of Southern origin for FCT. This was moreso with the earlier appointment of an Executive Secretary of Northern origin for the Territory. That expectation, however, came to nought with the appointment of Dr Aliyu Modibbo Umar from Gombe State as the FCT Minister: “It would have made sense as well as rejuvenated the flagging nationalist morale for government to appoint a non-northerner as minister for the Federal Capital Territory, if only to break the ossifying but deplorable political tradition of treating the municipality as a northern capital territory,” Ibadan-based Nigerian Tribune wrote last August in reaction to the appointment. This magazine however gathered that a cabal mostly made up of members of the President’s kitchen cabinet might be exploring Yar’Adua’s limited national outreach to feather their nest by appointing their lackeys into key government positions. As has been widely reported, President Yar’Adua was virtually a recluse before he was foisted on Nigerians by the former President. There are rumours for example that Yar’Adua had never visited some of the states in the Southern part of the country before he started campaigning for the office. The president was also said not to be a regular attendee at the regularly held forum of Nigeria’s 36 State governors when he was Katsina State helmsman. In an interview with TheNEWS last year, former governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Sani, who is now a senator, noted that Yar’Adua had a reputation for not attending other governors’ events while he was governor of Katsina State. That attitude profoundly works against him, as he has not made enough friends across the country.
This limited exposure, Professor Pat Utomi said in an interview last month now constitutes one of the biggest impediments to the success of the Yar’Adua presidency: “He does not have a Nigerian breath or scope. How many friends does he have in Bayelsa State? How many friends does he have in Oyo State? If you wake me up, I can count you ten friends in Borno and I don’t mean friends you just call and say good morning, I am talking of people you can make use of their competent skills… You know the best guys everywhere. You pull them together and say, ‘this is our country, this is what we need in our country, let’s move it forward and make it happen.’ I don’t think a person whose exposure is less than that is the ideal person to be entrusted with the task of moving Nigeria forward”.
Also, Mahmud Jega, a former editor of the influential New Nigerian newspapers also lamented about the dangers of the President’s limited circle of friends in his recent column. Jega who now edits Abuja-based Daily Trust newspaper said it is unfortunate that most of the aides close to the President are his associates from his days as the Governor of Katsina State. “They include the Chief Economic Adviser, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu, the Agriculture and Water Resources Minister, Dr. Abba Sayyadi Ruma, and the controversial businessman Alhaji Dahiru Mangal.
Other men known to have the president’s ear include the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Ambassador Babagana Kingibe [who had a long up-and-down relationship with the late General Shehu Yar’Adua] and the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar. Danger here is all these men are Northern Muslims”, noted the newspaper editor. Throw in the trio of Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State, former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, and the incumbent governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema, and you will have the most powerful group in Yar’Adua presidency who decides where certain positions should go to.
The close aides of the president were alleged to have been the brains behind the recent resignation from the cabinet of Abdullahi Mohammed. It was gathered that they have put pressure on Yar’Adua to sack the COS in the past 12 months as a way of gradually doing away with elements associated with the government of former President Obasanjo. Indeed, some newspaper reports in the early weeks of Yar’Adua administration had indicated the imminence of the emergence of Taminu as Yar’Adua’s COS. The report in a newspaper based in Abuja even indicated that the President’s Chief Economic Adviser will effectively step in as COS to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on 26, August 26, 2007 while Abdullahi, will proceed on leave. But the report, which was said to have embarrassed President Yar’Adua led to a temporary relocation of the office of the former Katsina State commissioner of finance, economic planning and budget out of the villa. He has however continued to enjoy high visibility in government. It was gathered that for the searing criticisms of Afenifere, he would have been appointed immediately to replace Abdullahi. With the recent announcement of an imminent cabinet reshuffle by the President, it was gathered that the trio of Tanimu, Kingibe and Abba Sayyadi have become beautiful brides now being courted by ministers who do not want to lose their jobs, as well as those aspiring to be appointed into the cabinet. The trio are said to be part of the group evaluating the performance of the Ministers. Critics however argued that if the trio continues to influence appointments there may not be a change from the recent trend. But in a media chat broadcast on national television, President Yar’Adua had defended the appointments: “Appointments made so far are usually based on merit. Take for example the nine parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Information, only two are from the North while the other heads are from the South even at that those appointments were based purely on merit.”
The fear however is that if the recent trend continues, the country may retuurn to the days in which a section of the country was in total control of all the offices in the land. What Yar’Adua needs to learn, according to Jega, “is the need to surround oneself with a national clique, so that when trouble comes, as is inevitable, it would not assume sectional dimensions. After all, what is so difficult in recruiting a clique from all parts of the country when you have presidential power in your hands? Former governor of Sokoto State and presidential candidate of Democratic People’s Party, DPP, in the last presidential election, Attahiru Bafarawa also advised Yar’Adua that the only way he can run a successful administration is to come out of what he described as his “present cocoon”.
“The first step for him is to come out of the cave he has found himself. He should assemble a good team,” he said. Though a trenchant critic of Obasanjo, Bafarawa said one virtue Yar’Adua can emulate from Obasanjo is the assembly of a good, broad-based team. “If he wants to move this country forward, he must emulate Obasanjo for once. You know Obasanjo assembled a good team from home and abroad. And it helped in some achievements of his administration… He (Yar’Adua) needs to come out and assemble the best,” the former Sokoto State governor said in a recent interview. In the same vein, Ropo Sekoni, another columnist with The Nation Newspaper, said the concentration of key agencies and ministries in the hands of people from one part of the country is not the right way to go if President Yar’Adua is interested in nurturing the nation’s democracy and unity: “To have three chairmen of EFCC in a row from the same region, give core ministries to a certain region, while inundating other regions with peripheral ministries or turning one region into a fertile producer of ministers or by-passing federal officers from one region for another officer from the President’s region on the basis of the former’s proximity to retirement age, are all capable of giving the wrong impression that the President is sectional and partial.” The columnist advised the President that federal character, like affirmative action in other countries, can be used to achieve national integration.
Yet, there were fresh fears last week that the lopsidedness in appointments may continue, even as the government is set to appoint new helmsmen for federal government agencies and parastatals. It was gathered that a list of potential appointees drawn up and submitted to President Yar’Adua by the SGF was rejected by some stakeholders in the ruling PDP. Their grouse, it was gathered, was that the North-West zone where the President is from was unduly favoured in the number of nominees contained in the list. According to a source, the North-West was allocated 120 slots and the South-East 115. And the quality of the board positions pencilled down for people from the President’s zone raised eyebrows compared to those intended for people from the other zones. Just like in the ministerial appointments, it was gathered that nominees from the North-West had been pencilled down for appointments in parastatals and agencies in the oil, maritime, energy sectors and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The North-West which has the presidency was pencilled down for juicy board appointments in Grade A agencies like NNPC, PPMC, NPA, FCDA and others,” a national newspaper reported last Thursday, quoting a PDP source. It was gathered that the complaints forced the President to return the list to zonal caucuses of PDP. But will Yar’Adua respond to these complaints by showing some even-handedness?
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