With the present rate of volatility in the Nigerian economy increasing into the realm of uncertainty, the administrative structures within the Buhari administration appear uncharacteristically distressed and unsettled with visible signs of division and cracks within the top ranks. This is as information available to 247ureports.com obtained through a consortium of sources indicate that the principal actors within the Buhari administration are at daggers drawn against the sharing of appointments and goodies among themselves.
Recent developments points directly to the chief of staff at the presidency, Abba Kyari and the minister of transportation, former governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi. Friction over appointments to Federal parastatals under the purview of the transportation ministry has brought the chief of staff and the transport minister at war stance.
Abba Kyari, according to a source, had used his influence and habit of usurping power, to single-handedly appoint persons into NIMASA without the input of the transportation minister. The recent appointment of board of Trustee members and executive members to NIMASA unraveled the former governor of Rivers State who could not contain his anger. Amaechi was reported to have warned the chief of staff to stay clear of “his area” of face his wrath. Amaechi did not stop at warning the chief of staff, he took the matter up with the President in ecstatic anger. 247ureports.com is not certain if the President has reacted to the appeal.
Abba Kyari had submitted list of names which he only shared with the Secretary to the government of the federation in cohorts with the nephew to the President, Mamman Daura. Some of the executive appointees selected were dubiously unqualified to hold such positions. One of the executive members was a former personal assistant to a director inside the NIMASA. The personal assistant, through Abba Kyari’s actions, is now boss to his former boss.
Virtually the entire staff at the presidency and the Ministry know the excesses of the Chief of Staff is noted to be notorious and legendary. “But most of them are too concerned about their jobs to complain or speak up” said the source who continued that most of the board appointments under the purview of other ministries were controlled almost entirely by Abba Kyari, Mamman Daura, and the secretary to the government of the federation. “Amaechi has been the only one to speak up against Kyari”.
With the signing of the budget having been completed and the implementation stage about to take off, the chief of State and his partners are reported to be at odds with the various ministries over the execution and award of contracts. A source within one of the affected ministries confined in 247ureports.com that the chief of staff has already cornered the juicy big projects slated to be carried out in the signed budget. “They have already penned which contractors will get what contract and which contract will be prioritized.”
The source continued to make a striking revelation. He pointed to the infighting as the cause for the seeming delay in execution of the signed Appropriation Bill. Apart from the limitation resulting from the non-availability of funds to execute the budget, the source points to the internal tussle between the various ministers and the Abba Kyari led team as the added hindrance in reaching a breakthrough. Abba Kyari, as gathered has tasked each ministry to come up with ways to generate funds to facilitate the budget – and the mandate is said to come directly from the President. But Kyari has taken over the choice of which projects to be prioritized – after the funds to execute them hand been raised by the ministry. “Kyari gets to oversee the execution of the contracts and the awarding process”.
