Why Buhari’s Appointees Fight Among Themselves

By Chuks Ekpeneru

The open altercation between the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Ali Pantami, and the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, over office space is not the first among appointees of the present administration.

But the frequency of the clashes is a source of concern.

In 2017, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, in an open letter alleged that the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru overreached his authority by making numerous changes in the internal structure of the NNPC without his consent. The allegation raised against Baru of approving $25 billion contracts without authorization has been a sticky point that the opposition has repeatedly used to hit at the All Progressives Congress, APC administration.

Before he died, the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari was accused by the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno of usurping presidential powers as he directed service chiefs to ignore instructions by the former.

Read Also: Disquiet As NSA Queries Abba Kyari’s Role In Security Matters

Monguno alleged that Kyari’s ‘meddlesomeness’ was affecting national security.

Kyari was also alleged to have had a hand in the removal and eventual arraignment in court of former Head of Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita. The two principal officials of government openly quarreled over culpability of one another in the recall of alleged pension thief, Abdulrasheed Maina to service.

Kyari also tangled with the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai.

In a scathing memo in 2016, El- Rufai accused him of being clueless.

Kyari was also at the receiving end in a spat with the First Lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari who raised the alarm over a cabal in the Presidency, sabotaging her husband’s pact with the people.

The battle between the Nigeria Police Force leadership and the Police Service Commission has till today not been resolved.

 It has become messier as the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has told the PSC that it has no powers to query the Deputy Inspectors-General of Police.

The PSC and Inspector-General also disagreed vehemently on modalities for recruitment of 10,000 police constables for the nation’s community policing scheme. The matter eventually got to the court.

Two Governors close to President Buhari, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State and his Kaduna State counterpart, Governor Nasir El-Rufai, have not hidden their distaste for each other. Recently, Ganduje called on El-Rufai to stop politicizing the issue of almajiris evacuated to the state who tested positive to COVID-19.

The issue between both North-West governors reached a crescendo when El-Rufai threw his weight behind former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi who was deposed by Ganduje. Some however say politics of 2023 is behind the crisis.

Concerns have also been raised in several quarters of inter-agency rivalry among heads of security agencies, especially the reluctance to share intelligence.

Observers say this has helped to fester emerging challenges of kidnapping, armed banditry, and other violent crimes across the country.

Akinloye Oyeniyi, Legislative Expert and Public Affairs Analyst argues that there is lack of leadership to bind the appointees, “there is always a leader to call everybody to order, once this is lacking, everywhere becomes jungle. It is a sorry state of affairs in our governance system that we are witnessing this.”

On the spat between Dabiri-Erewa and Patanmi, he said:

“Ordinarily, none of them should be occupying the edifice in contention, that is the NCC digital institute, but here we are witnessing the avoidable mess.

Read Also: Obaseki Goes To Oshiomhole’s House To Pick Form

“The questions now are: why is the ministry not housed in the federal secretariat and the Commission housed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

 “But like I said earlier, it is all about who appointed both and how he is able to rein them in.

Reacting to the development, Yinka Odumakin, National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, the Yoruba apex socio-cultural group, blamed lack of cohesion in the government for the conflicts.

Speaking to GWG, Odumakin said: “It is all about everybody looking over his territory. Once you don’t have a central binding force in terms of governance programme to keep everybody busy, off course they will fight for influence and sharing. There is no serious governance going on.”

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