In spite of a backdoor approach by some forces in the
Presidency, 24 out of 35 commissioners are insisting on the removal of the
Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Mr. Festus Odimegwu.
They asked President Goodluck
Jonathan to direct Odimegwu to step aside due to alleged high-handedness and
unguarded utterances capable of undermining preparations for 2016 Census.
But the Director of Public Affairs
of NPC, Mr. Simeon Otene, who spoke with one of our correspondents, said: “We
are aware of the petition. The crisis is a family affair; efforts are on to
resolve the issue.”
Odimegwu was recently queried by the
Presidency on some of the issues raised by the commissioners.
While the response to the query was
being attended to, some forces in the Presidency are demanding the retention of
Odimegwu.
But in an eight-page petition, the
commissioners pleaded with the President to assign NPC to a more temperate
person.
They passed a vote of no confidence
on the NPC chairman.
They said “Your Excellency, the
basis for continued confidence in the chairman has been destroyed
irretrievably.”
Those who signed the petition are
Tunde Lakoju (Edo); Sulaimon Sani Sulaiman (FCT); Austen A.T. Paisor (Bayelsa);
Yusufu Moh. Ankar (Zamfara); Muhammadu Haruna (Borno); David A. Garnvwa
(Adamawa); R. Fola Adedayo (Ekiti); Aliyu Datti (Niger); T.T Dule (Benue);
Abdullahi Abarshi (Kebbi); Muhammed A. Aikoye (Kogi); Stephen E. Egbivbie
(Delta); Abubakar Ndakene (Kwara); Yau Usman Jama’a (Kaduna); Bala Muhammad
Magar (Gombe); B. Yakubu (Cross River); Ohiremi Akinbobola (Ondo); Mahdi Bukar
(Yobe); Mohammed Surajo Marshal (Kano); Hassan Bashir (Bauchi); Lere Oyewumi
(Osun); Emmanuel O. Nwaogu (Imo); Abdulateef A. Gbadamosi (Oyo); and Abashe Iro
(Katsina).
The petition, exclusively obtained
by our correspondent reads in part: “It is with the greatest reluctance but
with profound sense of responsibility that we the undersigned 24 National
Population Commissioners from the six geo-political zones of this country,
petition against the unfortunate and unbecoming conduct of the National
Population Commission Chairman, Eze Festus Odimegwu, which conduct has
precipitated the present seeming anarchy pervading the commission and generated
the persisting unhealthy national debate on past census results in this
country.
“We have in our maturity avoided any
physical showdown because we do not want to embarrass Mr. President, fellow
Nigerians and our respective families.
“Since assumption of office in June
2012, the Commission has been contending with the unfortunate, controversial
and unbecoming conduct of its Chairman Eze Festus Odimegwu on sensitive
national issues, particularly on past national head counts in this country.
“The chairman has described all the
censuses in this country from 1816 as a mess, fabricated, cooked-up and
unreliable. He has in recent times insisted that the past national head counts
were deliberately conducted to favour a particular section of the country.”
The petitioners accused the chairman
of continuous issuance of inflammatory statements in the media “and disparaging
remarks about the Nigerian politician. In keeping with his style and without
justification, he brazenly accused the Commission’s leadership during the 2006
head count of having sold enumeration area demarcation to unnamed politician.”
They urged the President to
investigate how equipment manufacturers (who are National Population
Commission’s contractors in waiting) for 2016 census had been sponsoring some
National Population Commissioners to and from Europe and America in violation
of the Public Procurement Act.
They alleged that the Commission has
not been holding statutory meetings as required by NPC Act.
The petition said: “For upward of
three months now, the Chairman has refused to summon the usual Commission’s
meetings and even the one he reluctantly called for was postponed without
reason like many others before that at the venue of the meeting.
“The Chairman has without the prior
knowledge and or approval of the Commission appointed three Acting Directors to
head substantive Departments in total disregard of extant laws on seniority.”
They accused him of unfair practices
in appointment and postings saying, “He has appointed three Special
Advisers/Assistant from the private sector without recourse to the Commission
and to whom he has issued the Commission’s Identity Cards and entrusted them
with official documents of the Commission. The Special Advisers/Assistants
attend official functions, seminars, retreat and receive allowances from the
Commission.”
A source, however, said: “The
position of some forces in the Presidency is that Odimegwu should be retained
because of his experience in the corporate world. These forces have stepped
into the crisis with a view to finding a solution.
“They said no one can deny his track
record. His problem is that he cannot manage public office with the same speed
and attitude with which he addressed challenges in the Nigerian Breweries.”
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Politics