- IBB ousted me to stop Gusau’s sacking for corruption –Buhari
Unfolding indication is to the effect that perceived foes of the immediate past Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Habib Abdullahi may be going for the long knives, as petitions flood the Ministry of Transportation and that of the Finance, with insinuations of corruption.
Informed sources indicated that while those who besieged the Ministry of Finance were urging the Minister, Kemi Adeosun to take a sterner look at Habib’s remittances, insisting that the NPA ought to have done better, the petitions at Transportation Ministry were seeking Rotimi Amaechi’s intervention to probe the N5bn NPA Headquarters building rehabilitation, maintaining that even though the contract went through the due process, which included gaining both the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), it’s execution fell short of expectations.
“The procedure by which Messrs Sageto Nigeria Limited, a contracting firm in which the immediate past Vice President; Architect Namadi Sambo had an overwhelming influence won the contract was perceivably flawed”, a Ministry official highlighted, describing as “absolutely cumbersome and controversial”, the renovation of the six-story headquarters building, which was yet to be completed, despite the fact that almost the entire N5bn had been paid, with the interior aspects of the job, still undone, more than four years after.
Awarded during the administration of Omar Suleiman as Managing Director, the building rehabilitation job was largely executed in the tenure of Habib Abdullahi, who it was learnt, almost got into trouble several times, because he was considered very slippery and often unwilling to release money to the politicians, except the job was done.
The second group however believe that they could easily get to Habib, if the new Managing Director, (MD) Ms. Hadiza Usman would publish the audited accounts of the organization, during Habib Abdullahi’s tenure; that is 2012 till date.
“The audit should cover capital, personnel and overhead expenditure to enable the government block some leakages”, a petitioner posited, alleging that the NPA under-declared its revenue and failed to remit a sizeable percentage of its operating surplus to the government’s coffer.
“In 2011, the NPA remitted N29 billion into the Federation Account, making its highest remittance in history. But, all it remitted between 2012 and 2015, through the Lagos pilotage district, was $2,706,352,445 and N32, 427,537,176”, one of the petitioner posited further..
In the meantime, President Muhammadu Buhari said that he was kicked out of office on August 27, 1985 by the then Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, because he was fighting corruption.
Buhari, who was the military head of state for 18 months, said this during an exclusive with The Interview Magazine.
He said the then Head of Military Intelligence, Aliyu Gusau, was allegedly involved in some sharp practices and he had recommended his sack from the military leadership.
Buhari said the reason he insisted on Gusau’s removal was because he did not want his anti-corruption war to appear one-sided.
The President said, however, Gusau, Babangida and other officers teamed up and staged a coup thereby ousting him from office.
Buhari said this while reacting to a December 2015 interview by Babangida in which he (Babangida) said the plan to remove Gusau had nothing to do with the 1985 coup.
In his reaction, however, Buhari said, “I learnt that Gen. Ali Gusau, who was in charge of intelligence, took an import licence from the Ministry of Commerce, which was supplies, and gave it to Alhaji Mai Deribe. It was worth N100, 000, a lot of money then.
“When I discovered this, I confronted them and took the case to the army council. Gen. Malu was the Chief of Defence Staff; Gen. Babangida was the Chief of Army Staff; Tunde Idiagbon was the Chief of Staff, Defence Headquarters and I was the Head of State.
“I said if I didn’t punish Gusau, it would create a problem for us. It is North versus South; majority versus minority; Muslim versus Christian. That was what it showed.
“So, I said Gen. Ali Gusau had to go. He was the Chief of Intelligence. That was why Babangida got some officers to remove me. Let him repeat his own story. Ali Gusau is still alive.”
Speaking on the 2016 budget fiasco, the President said he would ensure that such budget padding would never happen again.
He also slammed critics who accused him of not having an economic team.
Buhari said, “What do they mean by team? The Vice-President heads our Economic Management Team. You have a finance minister, a budget and planning minister; a minister of trade and industry and investment; a governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a national economic adviser and others and yet some people still ask for a team.
“We will listen to everybody but we are averse to economic teams whose private sector members frequently steer government policy to suit their own narrow interests rather than the overall national interest.”
Additional report from Punch
