APC Pressure Mounts on Buhari to Sack Heads of Parastatals

Despite enabling laws, 35 agency chiefs may be forced out

With the agitation by members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on President Muhammadu Buhari to replace several heads of federal government agencies whom he inherited from his predecessor reaching fever pitch, there are indications that Buhari, who resisted the clamour to remove them on the grounds that their tenures, some of which are backed by law, had not expired, may have succumbed.

In this regard, THISDAY learnt that Buhari late last week approved the sack of no

fewer than 35 chief executives and directors-general of some agencies of government.

The presidency, which has communicated the president’s approval to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir David Lawal, is expected to announce their removal this week.

Prior to the approval, Buhari, it was gathered, had resisted pressure for the ouster of some of the heads of parastatals he inherited from the Goodluck Jonathan administration, arguing that their tenures had not expired and in some cases is backed by law.

However, there has been mounting pressure from members of his party to remove the parastatal heads and replace them with APC loyalists as compensation for their loyalty to the ruling party and contributing to its victory in the 2015 general election.

A notable case was that of the APC candidate in the April 11, 2015 Rivers State governorship poll, Mr. Dakuku Peterside, and some APC chieftains from his state, who after the Supreme Court dismissed their election petition against Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, met with the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Oyegun recently.

At the meeting, they pleaded with Oyegun to make a case for their compensation at the federal level owing to the sacrifices they had made and the fact that they had been branded “traitors” in Rivers State for siding with the APC.

Some of the affected agencies, according to THISDAY sources, are the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), the National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) and the Industrial Trust Fund (ITF), among 32 other agencies.

According to sources, the complete list of agency chiefs would be announced this week by the SGF who at the weekend asked the supervising ministers of the agencies to inform the affected persons of their removal.

Lawal chose to wait to make the announcement because he did not want to spoil their weekend, more so since the Valentine’s Day celebration fell at the weekend.

But ahead of the annoucement, he asked the supervising ministers of the affected agencies to inform their heads ahead of time, which some of them were believed to have done.

Although Buhari, sources said, is yet to announce replacements for any of the agencies, their letters of disengagement will instruct them to hand over to the most senior persons in their respective agencies, pending the appointment of new substantive heads to run the parastatals.