The Nigerian army says President
Muhammadu Buhari approved the appointment of Shuaibu Ibrahim as
director-general (DG) of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
The army’s claim was contained in
the report of the senate committee which investigated the appointment.
In May, the army announced
Ibrahim as the new NYSC DG, raising concerns in different quarters that the
presidency ought to announce the replacement of Suleiman Kazaure, Ibrahim’s
predecessor.
In 2011, former President
Goodluck Jonathan appointed Thompson Okorie-Affia as the scheme’s DG, and later
in 2013, appointed Johnson Olawumi to replace him. Buhari appointed Kazaure in
2016.
Section 5 of the NYSC act
stipulates that only president could make such appointment.
“(I) There shall be for the
service corps a Director-General who shall be appointed by the President,” the
section reads.
Sagir Musa, army spokesman, had
declined to speak on the issue when contacted.
The senate subsequently mandated
its committee on youths and sports development to investigate the appointment
to confirm if the law was violated.
At plenary on Thursday, Ogba
Obinna, the committee chairman, quoted GAT Ochigbano, acting military secretary
(army), as saying the army submitted three names to Buhari regarding the
posting.
He said: “COAS was represented
G.A.T. Ochigbano, army’s acting secretary who made written and oral
presentations. Three suitable and qualified candidates were nominated for the
president to chose from.
“Their nomination was conveyed to
the President through the Minister of Defence via a letter dated 13 February
2019
“The minister of defence
confirmed to the DG the president’s approval of Ibrahim via a letter dated 18
April 2019.”
He said the committee found out that
“the appointment is in accordance with the provisions of NYSC Act” and that “no
law was violated as presidential approval was granted before appointment.”
“The committee hereby recommends
that due process was followed in the appointment,” he added.
Reacting, Senate President Bukola
Saraki said the senate will continue to play its role in ensuring due process.
He said: “That is why we are
here, at all times to ensure that the interest of Nigerians and due process is
followed.
“If there are many more like
this, that affects Nigerians, we must play our roles in ensuring that we bring
it to attention of us here and we do our own work.”
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com