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Fred Itua, Abuja
In 2015, few weeks after he took his oath of office as President, Muhammadu Buhari, during an official state visit to the United States of America gave an address at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on July 22nd.
During the interface, Dr. Pauline Baker, the President Emeritus of The Fund for Peace, inquired about security in the Niger Delta area.
In responding, President Buhari said: “I hope you have a copy of the election results. The constituents, for example, who gave me 97% of the vote cannot in all honesty be treated equally on some issues with constituencies that gave me 5%. I think these are political realities.”
That statement which caused a nationwide uproar, many believe, set a tone of what was to come during President Buhari’s administration. Pundits who were quick to point out the danger, had warned that some parts of the country were going to be favoured than others.
More than five years after, discussions about purported skewed appointments by President Buhari, still hold sway, especially in the Senate.
The recent development is the appointment of board members and management team of the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
According to a letter from President Buhari and read on the floor of the Senate by its President, Ahmad Lawan, the nominee for the position of the Director-General is from the North East, where Lawan hails from.
Lawan also announced Oyindasola Oni and Aisha Umar, as nominees for the office of Chairman and Director-General of the PenCom board, respectively.
The announcement didn’t go down well with some lawmakers, especially the Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe. He declared that the nomination from the North East to replace the former DG of PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, from the South East was in flagrant breach of the Act establishing the Commission.
According to Sections 20(1) and 21(1) and (2) of the National Pension Commission Act 2014, it states that “in the event of a vacancy, the President shall appoint replacement from the geo-political zone of the immediate past member that vacated office to complete the remaining tenure.”
Abaribe maintained that the replacement for Mrs Anohu -Amazu must come from the South East.
He argued: “I recall that the tenure of the incumbent was truncated, therefore the new letter from the president that has now moved the Chairman of the Commission to another zone may not be correct because it is against the law setting up the National Pension Commission.
“Before you send it to the appropriate committee tomorrow, I wish to draw the attention of the committee to it.”
In his response, Lawan rebuked Abaribe’s point of order. “That is for me to interpret because I interpret the laws here. If there is any petition to that effect, it should be sent to the committee,” he reacted.
One of the lawmakers who pleaded not to be named, told some newsmen that the opposition to the contravention of the Act establishing the National Pension Commission cuts across the South East, South West and North Central.
“We are set to meet tonight (Tuesday) to harmonise our position,” he said.
The lawmaker recalled the move by Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo to push for the nomination of Mr. Funsho Doherty from the South West as successor to Mrs Anohu -Amazu as the DG of PenCom, but was frustrated by a certain ‘cabal in the Presidency’.
“Professor Osinbajo, as acting President could not push it through. They threatened him with impeachment and used the lawmakers from the North to block him, citing provisions of the same Pension Act,” he further revealed in confidence
The lawmaker accused the President of the Senate of being a willing tool in the hands of the Presidency in its agenda of promoting the interest of a particular section of the country which he noted was contrary to the Federal Character Principle entrenched in the Constitution.
The lawmaker cited the emergence of a former Personal Assistant to the Senate President, Ahmed Amshi as the Chairman of National Assembly Service Commission (NASC).
To further frustrate the planned confirmation, senators from South East geopolitical zone met last week to take a common position on the issue.
The senators from the geopolitical zone who are drawn from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are insisting that the position must be ceded to one of their constituents, in line with the Act setting up PenCom.
A source told some newsmen that the South East caucus in the National Assembly met on Wednesday to further take a position.
On Saturday, their counterparts from the South West, it was learnt, are now working with their colleagues from the South East to truncate the confirmation of the appointment.
Senators fighting Umar’s confirmation are insisting that provisions of the Pension Act which states that “in the event of a vacancy, the President shall appoint replacement from the geo-political zone of the immediate past member that vacated office to complete the remaining tenure” are being flouted.
They maintained that by virtue of provisions of Section 20(1) and section 21(1) and (2) of the National Pension Commission Act 2014, replacement for Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, whose tenure was terminated mid way in 2017 by President Buhari must come from the South East.
Anohu -Amazu who had since picked up an appointment as Executive Director at African Development Bank, lost her position two years to the end of her first tenure.
It was further gathered that the Pension Commission established in 2004 by former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, had Muhammad Ahmad from same North East as DG.
Moves by President Buhari to bring Aliyu Abdulrahman Dikko from the North East to fill the vacancy created by Anohu -Amazu’s exit was rebuffed by the leadership of the 8th Senate led by former Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki.
A source told some newsmen that senators across party divides from North Central, South East and South West are angry over lopsided appointments by the Buhari administration which they said has continued to observe in breach, the Federal Character principle, enshrined in the Constitution.
A senator from South West further accused the President of the Senate of playing on the intelligence of his colleagues. He recalled that when a certain senator from the zone lost his seat to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), following court pronouncements, the Senate President promised him the exalted position of Chairman, National Assembly Service Commission.
“We were surprised that he facilitated the appointment of his former Personal Assistant, Ahmed Amshi for the office. Amshi is from same Yobe State in the North East as Ahmad Lawan,” he said
The source further accused President Buhari of encouraging promotion of ethnic agenda in the strategic agency.
“It is quite unfortunate that Buhari, himself a pensioner, upon assumption of office, allowed the pension Commission to slide. It is clear that Buhari is being misled by both the SGF (Boss Mustapha) from Adamawa State and Senate President (Ahmed Lawan), a hard core Northern irredentist from Yobe State to defy the law to destroy Pencom and pension industry by imposing Aisha Dahir-Umar from Adamawa State, in acting capacity for almost four years.
“Now they are taking the insult and destruction even further by trying to shove her down our throats as a substantive DG for another 5 years (in the first instance), not because of merit, but for nepotistic reasons,” he added.
It is unclear how far senators opposed to the confirmation will go. Already, Lawan, despite the stiff opposition, has mandated the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters to screen Buhari’s nominees for appointment as chairman, DG and commissioners of the National Pension Commission despite sustained opposition from his colleagues.
If those opposed to the confirmation fail, it will add to the growing list of several failed attempts to stop Lawan from confirming requests from President Buhari, which are believed to be in breach of the Constitution.
