ICPC: How Tinubu Bowed To Pressure; Appoints Jigawa AG Chairman

With the appointment of Dr Musa Aliyu as the Executive Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appears to have bowed to pressure to appoint the agency boss from the northern part of the country.

Aliyu, a lawyer is from Jigawa state, and the current Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of the state.

Following the appointment of Ola Olukoyede as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC Executive Chairman last week, not a few Nigerians insisted that the president must adhere to the federal character principle by ensuring that a northerner is appointed ICPC boss.

Instructively, President Tinubu has been accused by his critics of appointing his kinsmen from the south into key government positions.

They demanded the removal of Prof. Bolaji Owosanoye, to pave the way for a candidate from another zone, saying it would be wrong for the heads of the two agencies to come from the same zone.

Both Olukoyede and Owosanoye are from the southern part of the country.

For instance, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, said government appointments must be in compliance with the FCC provision.

“If you are going to have the EFCC and the ICPC, the heads cannot come from same zone. If there are two positions in the public service, one must go to the North, one must go to the South. If there are four, two must go to the South, two must go to the North. If there are six, one must go to each geopolitical zone. That is the law in Nigeria today,” the rights activist said.

Sources informed the magazine that Owosanoye was to be reappointed as EFCC Chairman safe for a last-minute change of mind by the president due to the feedback from Nigerians over the issue.

“Some aides of the president urged him to drop Owosanoye for a new ICPC Chairman from the north in order to balance the appointments across the zones in the country,” a Presidency source said on Monday after the appointment of Dr Aliyu.

A statement signed On Tuesday by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said the appointment of Dr Aliyu is “In exercise of powers conferred on the President as established in Section 3(6) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.”

The statement, titled ‘President Tinubu appoints new ICPC management team; approves 90-day pre-end-of-tenure leave for outgoing ICPC Chairman,’ further stated that Clifford Oparaodu has been appointed as the Secretary of the commission.

Prof. Owosanoye has been directed to proceed on leave from November 4. 2023.