The battle for political supremacy between the Kogi State Governor Captain Idris Wada and some Abuja-based political heavyweights has consumed a director in the Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. (Mrs) Lami Amodu.
The same battle had culminated in the formal resignation, Wednesday, of Speaker, Kogi State House of Assembly Hon. Abdullahi Bello after nearly two months of ding-dong with some of his colleagues who ousted him and other principal officers of the Assembly in controversial circumstances.
Dr. Amodu, who was believed to enjoy the support of Governor Wada, recently suffered two setbacks in her civil service career.
First, even though this doctorate degree holder reportedly passed all the qualifying examinations for aspiring permanent secretaries, political intrigues in Amodu’s home state knocked her off the list of permanent secretaries appointed last month by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Dr. Amodu was displaced by a dental surgeon, Dr. Folasade Omolara Yemi-Esan, formerly Head, department of Health Planning, Research and Statistics, Federal Ministry of Health.
Interestingly, no sooner had Dr. Amodu’s bid to be appointed permanent secretary bit the dust than she bagged a new appointment – Principal, Federal Government Girls College, Gboko.
Officials of the Ministry of Education told Pointblanknews that Amodu’s redeployment as school principal in far-away Gboko may not be unconnected with the vacuum created by the exit of the Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Ahmed Modibbo Mohammed.
Sources in the Education Ministry confided in Pointblanknews that there was the looming feeling that Dr. Lami Amodu could return to UBEC as Executive Secretary.
“So they think the best way to stop the woman from ruining Modibbo’s chances is to send her away,” claimed one of the sources.
However, another source claimed that Dr. Amodu’s woes may not entirely have to do with the politics of UBEC.
The source claimed that Dr. Amodu had approached her governor, Captain Wada, for political support, in the heat of the jostling for permanent secretaries’ appointments.
Unknown to Amodu, the “opposition” forces in Kogi, led by Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) and Senator Smart Adeyemi had spotted that and quickly queued behind Dr. Yemi-Esan. As it turned out, the Kogi “opposition” carried the day.
Besides, Bello Adoke is said to be sympathetic to Modibbo, and would gladly do anything to hurt the interests of anybody believed to be a threat to Modibbo’s return to UBEC.
In April 2007, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Dr. Amodu UBEC Executive Secretary. Her appointment was for a five-year tenure, which was to have lapsed in April 2012.
However, shortly after Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua took over as president, specifically on August 29, 2007, the then minister of education, Dr. Aja Wachuku announced that Dr. Modibbo had been “redeployed” to take over from Dr. Amodu as UBEC boss.
At the time, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairman, Dr.
Ahmadu Ali, a native of Kogi State, and the Governor, Ibrahim Idris, had made spirited but attempts to stop Modibbo from taking over at UBEC.
However, with support from Dr. Abba Ruma, considered the most powerful Minister in Yar’Adua’s cabinet, Modibbo bulldozed his way to become UBEC boss.
The forces that swept Dr. Amodu out of UBEC apparently followed her to her new “appointment” as Head, Inspectorate Services, Federal Ministry of Education, as it turned out that the position was just a smokescreen to get rid of her.
Interestingly, at the time of Dr. Amodu’s appointment as UBEC boss, Abba Ruma was Minister of State for Education, with Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili as the senior minister.
Ruma had assisted Ezekwesili to carry out radical reforms in the education sector, but had ironically after his senior minister exited, used proxies to reverse all their actions in office.