Ajayi Bamidele
Ikeja,
Lagos, Nigeria
Following the purported rumour making rounds that President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed the Director General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Mrs. Roli Bode-George as acting chairman of the agency, report from the out-gone chairman Alhaji Ahamadu Giade confirmed the true state of the scenario that play out.
Earlier yesterday, report circulating the media had it the the DG of NDLEA, Mrs. Roli Bode George claimed she had gotten the appointment as the first female chairman of the NDLEA board, but the former Chairman in a felicitation message forwarded to the top ranked officerw distanced self from the self acclaimed imposition of Mr. Roli Bode George as his successor, only to whip up gender sentiment against the larger interest of men of the agency.
Report further disclosed that there was and has since not been any formal communication from presidency, directing the Director General to act as the chairman but for the out-gone chairman to hand over to someone next in rank the leadership of the office to enable the president search for a competent officer in the service that would take up the mantle of leadership and re-position the agency to an enviable height.
Consequent upon this, information from the presidency revealed that president Muhammadu Buahri is ready to replicate what he did with the Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC) by appointing Mr. Ibrahim Magu, a serving officer of the agency before his appointment as the chairman and what former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan did by appointing Mr.Oyeyemi Boboye as the Corp Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), also once a serving member of the corp.
It was furthered gathered that president Muhammadu Buhari does not want to repeat mistakes made in the past by successive administrations who employed politicians or political appointees in sensitive sectors of the economy which placed the integrity of Nigeria in serious discus among the global communities. He intends to search for highly technical serving members of the agency to rewrite the wrongs written about the agency in the past.
Though, the presidency has not replied the self acclaimed imposition by Mrs. Roli Bode George who claimed she has the mandate of the president to commence acting as the chairman of the agency, but insisted on the letter forwarded to the out-gone chairman, dated 23th of August 2015, when he (Ahamdu Giade) forwarded his three month retirement notice to the president.
The question remains, what would the Director General intends to achieve by whipping up gender sentiment to attract undue sympathy of the presidency or would such action capable of destroying the CHANGE agenda of the present administration be entertained, where an individual would want his/her interest overrun the larger interest of an agency of government, duly established by the act of the parliament.
Though certain concerned officers of the NDLEA have reiterated there call in a petition written to the presidency, rejecting the appointment of Mrs Bode-George as acting chairman/chief executive.
The aggrieved officers said Roli’s appointment “is unacceptable because she is not an employee of the NDLEA”.
They urged President Muhammadu Buhari to consider the appointment of one of the directors of NDLEA as the chairman/chief executive”. Stressing that the situation “is breeding disaffection” in the 25-year old agency.
The officers wrote: “It is interesting to know that both the chairman/chief executive and the secretary of the agency are appointed by the President and Commander-in-Chief in what has been described as two key political appointees on consolidated salary. In view of the end of the tenure of Giade and vociferous clamour for a staff of the agency to take over leadership, it has become necessary to clarify who members of staff of the agency are.”
They explained that the staff of the agency were those defined in Section 5(5) and (6) of the NDLEA Act, which spelt out terms and conditions of service of officers.
“It is obvious from the above provisions that the chairman/chief executive and the agency secretary are not staff since their appointments are not in accordance with the terms and conditions of the service of the agency.
“Thus, the clamour for a staff of the agency to take over the top job clearly excludes the secretary of the agency. This is more so, given the fact that Mrs Roli Bode George, was appointed in October, 2014, as secretary without any law enforcement background,” the petition stated,” the officers stressed.
In a petition titled: “Who Succeeds Ahmadu Giade in NDLEA After Ten Years in the Saddle”, the senior officers insisted that precedents in other national agencies showed that Roli who was the NDLEA secretary, was not in a suitable position to take over as the chairman/chief executive.
“When Nuhu Ribadu was removed as the EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, then director of Operations, was appointed as acting chairman.
‘’When Mrs. Farida Waziri was also removed as EFCC chairman, the director of Operation was again made to act as chairman pending appointment of a substantive chairman. On all these occasions, the EFCC also has a secretary,” they added.
However, Mitchell Ofoyeju, the NDLEA spokesperson, said Giade’s decision to hand over to Roli Bode-George was in accordance with the law.
Ofoyeju added that the petition was unfounded, and without any basis in law, noting: “There is nothing wrong about handing over to the director-general. Ordinarily, the President should appoint the next chairman/chief executive, but since that has not been done yet, the DG is the next to the chairman in terms of hierarchy and is also the secretary to the board”.
It would be recalled that the wife of Bode George, a chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was appointed as the acting chairman of the NDLEA.
The appointment which came on Thursday, November 26, made her the first woman to head the anti-narcotic agency.
This development came, following the exit of Ahmadu Giade, who spent 10 years as the agency’s chairman/chief executive.
Roli Bode George, wife of a chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party, Bode George has been appointed as the acting chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), thus becoming the first woman to head the anti-narcotic agency.