By Tosin Olatokunbo
After the suspension of Hadiza Bala Usman as the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA many watchers of what is currently playing out in the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC are wondering whether the sack will be well received by Governor Nasir El rufai of Kaduna, who was instrumental to her appointment and perceived as her godfather.
President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, suspended Usman after a recommendation by the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, and the federal government had immediately set up an investigative panel to investigate her.
Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, disclosed in a statement on Thursday, that the president has constituted a panel to investigate the embattled NPA chief executive. .
The statement read, “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the recommendation of the Ministry of Transportation under Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi for the setting up of an Administrative Panel of Inquiry to investigate the Management of the Nigerian Ports Authority.
“The President has also approved that the Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman, step aside while the investigation is carried out. Mr Mohammed Koko will act in that position.
“The panel is to be headed by the Director, Maritime Services of the Ministry while the Deputy Director, Legal of the same ministry will serve as Secretary. Other members of the panel will be appointed by the minister.”
Amaechi who is the supervising minister of the agency had recommended the suspension of the NPA managing director, following what sources in the ministry described as “insubordination to the authority of the minister” on the part of Bala Usman who became the head of the agency, riding on the influence of Governor El Rufai.
The Kaduna Governor was an ally of the minister until recently when the duo parted ways over the 2023 Presidential contest. The two frontline politicians are believed to be interested in who becomes president after the expiration of President Buhari’s tenure in two years time. Sources privy to what’s going on, told the magazine that the minister has not been very comfortable with the closeness of El Rufai to Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, who have been touted as the candidate of the ‘El Rufai camp’.
Recall that Governor El Rufai said early in the year during a forum of Northern leaders in Arewa House, Kaduna state, that some powerful leaders from the region and APC are interested in Governor Fayemi presidential ambition.
“The initial arrangement by the El Rufai group was for Amaechi to run with the Kaduna Governor as Vice President. But the arrangement has since changed after the realization that the current realitiesin the country does not favour a northern candidate for the 2023 election.
“This is what is happening as prominent Arewa leaders have agreed that the next president should come from the south. Many APC governors are in support of this, but this did not sit well with the Amaechi group who believed that his ambition of becoming the vice president is being threatened, because they understand that the president and VP cannot come from the south based on existing power sharing arrangement in the country,” a source said.
The source said what is playing out in NPA is a power struggle among political actors in the ruling APC. According to him, more divisions should be expected in the APC as the general election approaches.
Recall that Bala Usman was an assistant to El Rufai while he was Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT under President Olusegun Obasanjo and the duo has strengthened their relationship since then. she was also Chief of Staff to Governor El Rufai before she was appointed as NPA managing Director in 2016.
