HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
The call for the suspension of Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, is mischievous, argues Tobias Iyoyo
The recent call by two eminent senators of the Federal Republic, Tayo Allasadura and Shehu Sani that President Muhammadu Buhari should suspend from office the Hon. Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu and the GMD of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, to pave way for investigation of both men is a strange call. The call that Ibe Kachikwu should be suspended is curious and smacks of injustice masquerading as justice, fairness and equity.
In the eyes of all fair-minded Nigerians, this is a naked attempt to sacrifice Kachikwu in order to appease the very cabal he has accused of carrying out messy deals in the nation’s oil company with impunity. For the record, Ibe Kachikwu and Maikanti Baru are not feuding over improper sharing of loot. Rather, one of them, Kachikwu, who is a superior officer to Baru, has written a memo to the president alleging that the junior officer over whom he should have oversight responsibility has been by-passing him and refusing to be subordinated to him. Additionally, that Baru has been performing his duties without adhering to due process.
The memo written by Kachikwu became public knowledge only because it was unfortunately leaked. If it had not, it would have been a normal administrative step taken by a responsible superior officer to another higher officer for adjudicatory redress. In order places where there is a sense of true fairness, justice and good conscience, Ibe Kachikwu would be highly commended for his high sense of responsibility and insistence that the right things be done according to law and regulations. Here in our country where, unfortunately, anything goes, calls are being made for his suspension. Let us get things clear: what the nation has on its hands now is not a case of ‘two fighting.’ Far from it. It is a case of one party alleging that the other party has committed a wrong and that that party should be stopped on his tracks before he does grievous damage to the entire polity. To therefore equate them and recommend an equal disciplinary action is to turn the face of justice upside down.
That call for Ibe Kachikwu’s suspension is therefore not a call for justice but one that injustice be carried out against a public officer who has had the courage of his conviction to voice the uncomfortable truth that some huge wrongs have been done and that a higher authority who has the power and authority to do something about it should do that thing quickly to prevent further committal of such wrongs. His only offence is that in calling for a redress, he has unwittingly questioned the reputation of some.
Anchoring his own call for Kachikwu’s suspension, Allasaadura said the argument that there is also an allegation that when Kachikwu was GMD and Minister, he had approved contracts worth $25 billion without the approval of the Board. We are mixing things up here. The senator is trying to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it for the simple reason that when Kachikwu was operating, there was no board yet constituted for the NNPC which is why he was taking contracts above the management threshold to Mr. President and FEC for approval. This is not to be confused with Baru’s times where a board has duly been put in place with the chair as the Honourable Minister of State and he has chosen to sideline this duly constituted board. Baru’s decision to sideline the board is deliberate, provocative and mischievous for even if the board has no power under the law to approve contracts and other important administrative issues, what stops him for recognising and according the board its respect if Baru is confident that he is living above board?
When a demand is made that certain officers who are facing allegations of wrong doing be suspended from office pending the conclusion of investigation before they are either exonerated or found culpable and relieved of their duties, it is in order that they do not use their influence and access to vital information to jeopardise investigation. Here, the situation we are dealing with is that Ibe Kachikwu is not in any position to jeopardise any investigation; it is Baru who is and is the one who should rightly be suspended if we to get to the bottom of Kachikwu’s grave allegations against him.
This is not a case of trying to balance things up in order to please all sides. This is not a case of handling the North-South divide in our country nor is it a case of the Christian-Muslim divide. Ibe Kachikwu should not be sacrificed for having the courage to raise issues that have embarrassed the president and the cabal that is holding this nation by the jugular. Supporting the two senators’ call will amount to visiting a grave injustice against Ibe Kachikwu.
Knowing our country for the way it is run, one is very sure that if Ibe Kachikwu is suspended alongside Baru, it will just be an excuse for the cabal to ease him out of the way and give them a convenient excuse to look for a more pliant fellow who will do their bidding in the very sensitive Ministry of Petroleum Resources. Even in the event that the two are sacked from their positions, Ibe Kachikwu will be rubbished while Baru will be told to bid his time and wait for the storm to die after which he is ushered into another even more lucrative office for his good service to the cabal. We have become used to this type of gimmick and will therefore not sit down quietly and pretend that the call for Kachikwu’ssuspension is indeed in good faith. It is not. It is in very bad faith that will reward this first class technocrat with evil for agreeing to serve his fatherland.
Iyoyo wrote from Port Harcourt