I Disagree with Buhari on Kachukwu - Tinubu

The National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, who doubles as the Publisher of the Nation’s Newspaper, has taken a swipe at President Muhammadu Buhari’s perceived lopsidedness, especially in the recent composition of the Board of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

In the Nation’s editorial, dated July 12, with the title “Kachikwu Fate,’’ Tinubu, maintained that the deliberate removal of Ibe Kachikwu as the Group Managing Director, GMD, of the NNPC, coupled with the dominance of the “northern mafias’’ in the board, might generate ethnic crisis.

Before now, a Niger Delta advocacy group, had argued that the removal of Kachikwu, as the GMD of the NNPC, was a disservice to the people of the oil rich region.

In a press statement by its President, Nelly Emma; Secretary, John Sailor and Public Relations Officer, Stanley Mukoro, the group said the sudden removal of Kachikwu, was an unfair treatment, not only to the hard-working technocrats, but to the entire people of the neglected oil rich Niger Delta Region.
“The appointment of Baru by the President, is not in the best interest of the nation, but to satisfy the interest of the North,” the statement had said.

While condemning Buhari’s action, Tinubu said: “The president appointed a new board for the NNPC… That decision removes Ibe Kachikwu from that position, which leaves him as the Minister of State for Petroleum.

“First, Baru’s replacement of Kachikwu, implies that Kachikwu would not only run the NNPC behemoth, but will now only act on the behest of the President, who doubles as Petroleum Minister’’.

Adding, he said: Some analysts have expressed the worry that since Baru will report to the President, Kachikwu’s position runs the risk of being sinecure. The position of Minister of State has tended to be sinecure, because it often exists as pork and to satisfy appetites for ethnic, religious and political inclusion, rather than need.

‘’What worried the Nigerian society more, was the skewed nature of the board. Of the six names on the board, only one is regarded as belonging to the oil-producing area of the Niger Delta. That name is Dr. Thomas John. The others are either from the southwest or the north. In fact, if we add the managing director, it is a northern affair.

‘’Since the days of Adako Boro, the region has not muted its outcry for its residents to enjoy the oil that comes from the bowel of their earth. Granted that the governments of the region, whether state or local governments, or even interventions like the Niger Delta Development Commission, have also sharply fallen short of local expectations, the Federal Government ought not to compound it”.

In conclusion, Tinubu stated: “The region suffers, for most part, from collusion between oil firms and the political elites in Abuj,a to determine the fates of their citizens. It is in that context that this new raft of NNPC appointees is viewed. It is also curious that the President could appoint Abba Kyari, his Chief of Staff, as a member of the board.

“The nation needs to know why. Kyari’s job as the President’s closest staff, should not only be enough for one man, but compels him to look at all departments of government with even judgment.”