by President Buhari on June 8, 2020, has refused to vacate her office
and is desperately clinging on to her position, hoping for a reversal of
her sacking as had happened earlier in December 2019.
Readers would recall that on December 24, 2019, the Minister of Power,
Engr. Sale Mamman had in a terse press release announced the sacking of
the embattled MD/CEO. Two weeks after the removal and following intense
and sustained lobbying by Dr. Amobi, her removal was reversed by the
Secretary to the Government of the Federation Mr. Boss Mustapha.
A similar scenario seems to be playing out in this latest dismissal. The
Minister of Power had on June 15, 2020, through a press release signed
by his Special Adviser on Media Aaron Artimas announced the sack of the
embattled MD. The announcement also conveyed the approval of the
President for the appointment of Dr. Nnaemeka Ewelukwa as the new MD/CEO
with immediate effect. Dr. Amobi who had a month to go on her tenure was
directed to proceed on her terminal/outstanding leave.
Curiously, on June 16, 2020, a memo emanated from the Federal Ministry
of Finance (the Minister of Finance is the Chairman of NBET’s Board of
Directors) signed by the Permanent Secretary Dr. Mahmoud Isa-Dutse
confirming the sacking of Dr. Amobi and the appointment of Dr. Ewelukwa
to the position of MD/CEO of NBET. However, a twist was introduced in
the matter, when the memo stated that “The President has approved that
you serve out your tenure at the completion of which you should hand
over to Dr. Nnaemeka Ewelukwa who is to take over from you as the
MD/CEO. Your appointment which took effect from 25th July 2016 for four
years is to end on 24th July 2020”.
It is this letter from the Ministry of Finance that is at the center of
the controversy. The embattled MD has latched on to this letter as an
excuse to dig in and has refused to hand over to the new MD. Our sources
at the Office of the Head of Service expressed surprise at the sit-tight
behaviour of the out-going MD. According to our source, best practices
demand that since a substantive MD has been appointed to take over from
her, the outgoing MD should have used the remaining one month of her
tenure as her terminal/outstanding leave.
Echoing the position of senior technocrats in the Office of Head of the
Civil Service, the Special Adviser Media to the Minister of Power, Aaron
Artimas in an interview with the Daily Trust Newspaper queried the power
of the Minister of Finance to authorize the continued stay in office of
the embattled MD who has been indicted for corruption. In an exasperated
tone, he asked “How can the Ministry of Finance under Mrs. Zainab Ahmed
say she should continue to stay? Buhari in the letter from the Chief of
Staff approved Ewelukwa as the substantive MD of NBET, not in an acting
capacity. And there is no way there will be two heads of an agency at a
time”. Mr. Artimas further asked, “How can she stay when her successor
has been appointed in a substantive position?”
Despite the raised eyebrows about her refusal to vacate for her
successor, Dr. Amobi is still occupying the office of the MD/CEO and in
a replay of her earlier sacking, she is desperately doing all she can to
reverse the presidential sack order.
NBET staff was alarmed when she was overheard on the phone frantically
speaking with a powerful Minister perceived to be close to the
President. The said Minister, who was flown out of the country while the
domestic/international flights were banned by the federal government is
reported to be facing severe health challenges. In the telephone
conversation, she was frantically pleading with the Minister to
intervene in any manner possible to save her job. Our source did not
hear what the Minister said to her in response but her countenance after
the call didn’t portray that she received a positive response.
The embattled MD is also trying to use her media consultants to throw
mud on the new MD/CEO. She has spent the better part of the week
compiling a dossier of negative things about Dr. Ewelukwa, which she
intends to release to the media within the coming week. The plan is to
tar him with false, scurrilous and unfounded allegations that may
perhaps make the government have a rethink on his appointment.
She is also applying the same tactics with other members of NBET senior
management who have been at loggerhead with her over her high-handedness
and penchant for corrupt practices. She has compiled a list of
allegations of misconduct against virtually all members of management.
The documents are being circulated to Board members in advance of an
inaugural Board meeting slated for Monday 22nd June 2020 despite the
reconstitution of the board since August 2018. Our source at NBET said
that the entire staff is looking at her with contempt and pity.
According to the source, it shows her level of depravity that on the eve
of her departure after her inglorious tenure, her priority presentation
to the Board at its inaugural meeting are scurrilous documents making
all sorts of allegations against her entire senior management staff.
Sources at NBET told our correspondent that on her appointment as MD of
NBET in July 2016, Dr. Amobi met an efficient company with a
well-motivated staff. There were nine senior management staff members.
Dr. Amobi, had issues with ALL of them. Starting with Waziri Bintube
(the Chief Finance Officer) and Sambo Abdullahi (the Chief Internal
Auditor) whom she unlawfully stopped payment of their salaries for over
two years running. Sambo, after exhausting all administrative remedies,
took Dr. Amobi and NBET to court for her unlawful stoppage of his
salaries despite the fact that he is still a staff of NBET to date. The
court gave judgment in his favor and berated Dr. Amobi for acting
unlawfully and in absolute disregard of extant government regulations.
She is yet to comply with the court judgment of March 11, 2020,
directing her to pay Sambo’s outstanding salaries for over two years
despite the fact that 21% would be accruing on the salaries after 30
days from the judgment date. Because the interest in Sambo’s salaries is
not coming from Dr. Amobi’s pocket but rather from the taxpayers, she
rebuffed the court.
Yesufu Alonge, who was the Head of Power Procurement and a very
knowledgeable hand was frustrated out of the company by Dr. Amobi, who
was always accusing him of coveting her job and scheming to unseat her.
To save himself from the fate of Waziri and Sambo, Alonge tendered his
resignation and left. Abba Aliyu, the erstwhile Head of Corporate
Services, suffered a similar fate and his salary is still being
illegally withheld by Dr. Amobi knowing full well that she has no power
to discipline management staff. The AGM legal Demvihin Tsumba was
unlawfully abducted from the office at the instance of Dr. Amobi and
taken to a police station on cooked-up charges. The police after
investigations gave her a clean bill as they didn’t find anything
against her. Despite that, Dr. Amobi is still hounding her and claims
that her case for dismissal is to be presented to the Board.
Late last year, she assaulted Mrs. Itohan Ehiede, the Head of Corporate
Services in her office, and in the presence of junior staff. This
outrageous conduct led the entire senior management staff to write a
petition calling for her removal from office. The matter is still
pending but she has queried Mrs. Ehiede and has included her in the list
of staff to de dismissed in her submission to the Board. The Deputy
General Counsel and former Head of Procurement, Dr. Eugene Edeoga did
not also escape the wrath of the outgoing MD. For failing to carry out
her instructions to dismiss a staff through a disciplinary committee he
chaired, Dr. Amobi visited her anger on him and issued him with several
queries. She has also sworn to get rid of him and will also make a case
for his dismissal to the Board.
The Head of Risks and Guaranties, Johnson Akinnawo is also in her bad
books. For joining the rest of the senior management staff to protest
her assault on Mrs. Itohan Ehiede, he incurred the wrath of Amobi.
Several times, she has summoned him to her office to berate him for
daring to sign the petition and told him to his face that she will make
him regret his action for the rest of his life.
Her worst anger is reserved for Dr. Nnaemeka Ewelukwa whose appointment
Mr. President has approved as her replacement. She is going all out to
tar him with her brush of hate and anger. A source at NBET who saw the
dossier she has compiled against Dr. Ewelukwa marveled at how an
outgoing MD would have the time to compile such a dossier running into
hundreds of pages against her successor, who was her General Counsel and
who had served her loyally.
An uneasy silence reigns at NBET as the staff ponders on how the
high-wire game of wits between the outgoing MD and her entire senior
management will play out. A staff, who asked for anonymity to avoid
victimization, wondered how Dr. Amobi within four years had problems
with the entire nine-member senior management staff. Does it mean that
not even one person is good enough for her? If she is a good person, how
come that not even one out of the entire nine-man senior management
staff is on her side?
Another staff wondered what Dr. Amobi learned in all the places she
boasts to have worked. In civilized climes, where she claims to have
worked, once a successor is appointed, the decent thing is to take your
exit. Why can’t she take one-month terminal/outstanding leave and go
home with some modicum of respect to take care of herself despite
looking very sick? The staff stated further that Dr. Amobi in an attempt
to destroy sensitive documents that could be used to jail her has
restricted staff entry and exit into the office while she only has
unrestricted access to the office, this was communicated to the staff on
Friday, June 19, 2020, by the Head of Corporate Services, Ms. Halima
AbdulSalam.
Our sources at the Ministry of Finance said that Dr. Amobi has been
advised to take her terminal leave, more so since she didn’t take any
leave during her four-year stint at NBET because of fear of Waziri and
Sambo might do in her absence. The Board meeting slated for Monday 22nd
June 2020 promises to be an explosive one with several directors already
of the opinion that she should gracefully step aside to allow the new MD
to start the rebuilding of the company that has been so badly damaged by
Dr. Amobi and her toxic governance.
Dr. Amobi soldiers amidst a forlorn hope that the President could be
made to reverse her sacking. She continues to run from pillar to post in
her desperate attempt at reversing her dismissal. The letter from the
Ministry of Finance asking that she serve out the remaining one month of
her tenure has provided her with a lifeline, which she has grasped with
all her strength as she continues her crocodile cry and rounds of
begging amongst influential people in government.
But this government that claims to be fighting corruption seems to have
been handling Dr. Amobi’s matter with kid gloves. Here’s an MD/CEO who
has for long not only been indicted for corruption by at least three
anti-corruption agencies in the country but has also been found to have
grossly violated public service rules by operating a private company
while in public service. In a government that is truly fighting
corruption, what Dr. Amobi deserves is not only an outright sack
immediately but also diligent prosecution before a competent court to
serve as a deterrent to like-minded public officers.