₦airaland Forum

Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje on Tuesday warned the newly sworn in commissioners that his administration will not condone any act of corrupt practices.

He urged them to be sincere and focused.

Ganduje, who handed down the warning shortly after assigning portfolios to the new commissioners at the Indoor Sports Hall, Sani Abacha Stadium, Kano, reminded them of the Kano State Anti-corruption Commission which is ever ready to beam its searchlight on any erring commissioner.


He urged them to remain focused, honest and work together with their permanent secretaries for the overall development of the state.

Ganduje enjoined them to ensure effective implementation of the yearly budget so as to actualise the Next Agenda of his administration.

Read Also: Ganduje nominates 20 commissioners
The commissioners are: Muhammad Garba, Information; Murtala Sule Garo, Local Government Affairs; Muazu Magaji, Works and Infrastructure; Ibrahim Muktar, Justice; Musa Iliyasu Kwankwaso, Community and Rural Development; Dr. Kabiru Ibrahim Getso, Environment; Nura Mohammed Dakadai, Budget and Planning; Shehu Na’Allah Kura, Finance and Economic Development and Dr. Mohammed Tahir Adamu, Religious Affairs.

Others include Dr. Zahara’u Umar Mohammed, Women Affairs and Social Development; Dr. Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa, Health; Sadiq Aminu Wali, Water Resources; Mohammed Bappa Takai, Science, Technology and Innovation; Kabiru Ado Lakwaya, Youths and Sports; Dr. Mariya Mahmoud Bunkure, Higher Education; Ibrahim Ahmed Karaye, Tourism and Culture; Muktar Ishaq Yakasai, Special Duties; Mahmoud Muhammad, Commerce and Industry; Muhammad Sunusi Saidu, Education; and Lawan Abdullahi Musa, Housing and Transport.

The governor announced that the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, retains his portfolio as the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Malam Mohammed Garba, was the first to be screened among the 20 commissioner-nominees who appeared before the House of Assembly yesterday.

The lawmakers asked him to take a bow and go after introducing himself. The exercise took less than three minutes.

The other 19 nominees were equally screened individually by the legislators.

All the commissioners passed the Assembly test.

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Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja

The lawmaker representing Oyo State’s Egbeda/Ona Ara Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Akin Alabi, has said that, in a presidential system of government such as obtained in the United States and Nigeria, the post of the Chief of Staff is more powerful than that of the Vice President.

The APC lawmaker is reacting to President Muhammadu Buhari’s signing of the Deep Offshore (and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract) Act in London, where he is currently on “private visit.”

His Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, had taken the document to him on Monday, leading to speculations that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has been sidelined.

In reaction to the lawmaker’s claim, two Senior Advocates of Nigeria — Messrs Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa and Ifedayo Adedipe — said Alabi’s assertion had no constitutional basis.

Alabi, who is the founder of Nigeria’s first online sports betting portal, NairaBET, made his views known via his Twitter handle @akinalabi on Tuesday.

In a series of tweets, the APC lawmaker said the Chief of Staff “is the assistant President, while the Vice President is merely a stand-in for the president.”

“Whether you like it or not, in a presidential system of government (eg, US, Nigeria), the post of the Chief of Staff is more “powerful” than that of the Vice President. He is the assistant President. The Vice President is a stand-in for the president,” the lawmaker said.

Continuing, he said, “It is NOT the duty of the Vice President to take a bill to the president. It’s the job of an assistant, like the Chief of Staff. The Vice President has been excellent performing his constitutional duties and the ones assigned to him.”

He surmised that, “If the President decides NOT to see Vice President Osinbajo as a PA, which I don’t think he should, then I’m 100% in support of that.”

Dealing knocks to those he described as noisemakers, Alabi said, “I understand the political agenda of the noisemakers but anyone ready to learn should learn.”

Wondering what Osinbajo’s relationship is with Buhari’s Chief of Staff Abba Kyari, Alabi tweeted further, “I don’t know whether there are problems between the Chief of Staff and the Vice President. Maybe there is. It’s politics and it happens everywhere.

“But with this bill signing issue, there is nothing out of the ordinary for the Chief of staff to bring a document for the president.”

Speaking with The PUNCH on Tuesday, however, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, said the office of the chief of staff was unknown to Nigerian law.

He, therefore, said there was no need for such controversy. Adegboruwa said, “The chief of staff is the head of the President’s personal staff. But our Constitution in Nigeria is different from other countries.

“The Supreme Court has held that the vice-president runs on the same ticket with the President and can act on his behalf when the President is not available.

“The second point is that the vice-president enjoys the mandate of the people through the ballot and can only be removed as recommended by the Constitution, while the chief of staff can be sacked at any time. Elevating a chief of staff above the vice-president is an aberration."

“What is playing out in Nigeria presently is an unfortunate development on how our system is being bastardised, where a bill is taken to the President in London to sign a law for Nigerians.”

Adegboruwa called on the President to surround himself with good legal advisers so as not to undermine the Nigerian Constitution.

“I think it is important for the President not to operate as an offshore leader,” he added.

Speaking in the same vein, Mr. Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), said the [office of the] chief of staff is unknown to the Constitution of Nigeria. Adedipe said the chief of staff had no statutory role and was an “unelected official” and thus could not be more powerful than a person occupying a constitutional office.

He said, “What law makes a chief of staff more powerful than the vice-president? “The chief of staff is a personal staffer of the President, as opposed to the vice-president who is constitutionally recognised to act.

“If a President is disdainful of the vice-president, it is because the society permits it. “The fact that the chief of staff has the ears of the President doesn’t make him equal to an elected official. “The office of the chief of staff is not known to law.”

Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta affairs, says the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was treated like an automated teller machine (ATM) by corrupt people.

Akpabio spoke in an interview with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA).

President Muhammadu Buhari recently ordered a forensic audit of the operations of the NDDC from 2001 to 2019 . The president said the directive had become imperative in view of the persistent criticisms of the operations of the commission.

Akpabio lamented that the commission has become known for abandoned projects, adding that political interference has also not allowed the commission to work as it ought to.

“We have also had a lot of political interference, people have not allowed NDDC to work as it ought to, people coming with ideas not to move the region forward but to move their pockets forward. It has always been so,” he said.

“We currently have about 12,000 abandoned projects across the nine states of the Niger Delta. If those things were completed, you can imagine that the area would have been turned into an Eldorado.

“There is no way NDDC road can last (for) even two years. I think people were treating the place as an ATM, where you just walk in there to go and pluck money and go away, I don’t think they were looking at it as an interventionist agency.

“Even the idea of giving out a job to somebody who does not have the requisite skills is corruption on its own. The idea of bloating the contract is also corruption. Even collecting money and abandoning the site is also corruption.

“We have also had a lot of political interference, people have not allowed NDDC to work as it ought to, people coming with ideas not to move the region forward but to move their pockets forward. It has always been so.”

Asked how he felt about the president’s order for an audit, he said: “I believe by now, people would have realised that the president is justified in calling for a forensic audit of the commission.

“I wonder why the leaders in the past didn’t find it necessary to look into the activities of the NDDC, with a view to repositioning it. There is nobody that will be happy to see this kind of situation.”