The presidency is currently considering a review of the recent senior executive appointments of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) made by its Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru.
According to THISDAY, the decision to consider a review of the appointments is predicated on the alleged breach of due process in the appointments and contract awards to the tune of $25 billion raised by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu against the NNPC boss in his letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on August 30.
A top presidency official who confided in the Newspaper said the silence from the presidency on the appointments was not an endorsement on the action taken by Baru, adding that if after thorough examination the appointments were indeed found to be in breach of the extant laws or the federal character principle, they will duly be reviewed.
According to him, the president and his deputy are advocates and promoters of due process who would not hesitate to reverse themselves when cases of apparent breaches are established, instead of allowing their egos to get in the way and maintaining indifference to wrongful acts.
“It is going to be reviewed. Extant laws would be checked to verify if NNPC did not comply with them. The appointments will be checked to see if they are not in line with federal character.
“Even if the president had approved them, if they are found not to be in accordance with the extant laws and federal character, this president and even the vice-president will review them and ensure that proper things are done.
“You know that on one or two occasions, some decisions had been taken in error in the past and the president did not hesitate to reverse them. If the same thing is established in this situation, it will be reviewed,” he stated.
Recall that whilst NNPC and the presidency have separately responded to the allegation of the $25 billion contract awards in breach of due process, both institutions have remained silent on the appointments of senior executive officers of the corporation, despite the plea by Kachikwu in his letter that the appointments be suspended.
In their defence of the contract awards, the presidency and the corporation had claimed that the contracts had passed through the NNPC Tenders Board and got No Objections from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), following which final approvals were granted by Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, in his capacity as acting president.
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