By Ogar Simeon
\nGeneral Muhammadu Buhari win at the March 28 Presidential Election
\ntriggered a gale of defections from the Peoples\u20ac\u2122 Democratic Party (PDP)
\nto the All Progressives Congress (APC), which has prompted concerns among
\npolitical watchers who reason that the rent seeker that ruined the nation
\nin 16 years of PDP rule are already positioning themselves to ply their
\ntrade in the APC.<\/p>\n
These defectors cut across all strata of political influence. Former
\ngovernors, ex-federal lawmakers, their state counterparts and even
\npoliticians at local government level have ditched the former ruling party
\nfor the new bride. While Nigerians are rightly alarmed at the mass exodus
\nof career politicians to the incoming ruling party, they have overlooked
\nthe real threat to Buhari presidency seeming underdogs who were
\nclose to the jugular of the outgoing government.
\nPrincipal of such characters is Folake Itohan Oke Salami, the Executive
\nDirector Business Development of the Nigerian Export and Import (NEXIM)
\nBank. Salami is one of the adopted daughters of First Lady, Dame Patience
\nFaka Jonathan, whose reign of terror and impunity at the specialized bank
\nis set to continue as she jostles to find relevance in the incoming
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
Salami, who was appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan on December 4,
\n2011 on the strength of her relationship with Patience Jonathan, has been
\nseverally linked with sordid details at NEXIM but the administration
\nstance on corruption allowed her to continue acting free. Added to her
\npenchant for sleaze are her rude character, arrogance and unprofessional
\nconduct as she is always meddling in politics instead of her core area of
\nmandate.<\/p>\n
Drawing inspiration from disgraced former Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah
\nwho did something similar in the past and was clearly rewarded and became
\nPresident Jonathan shadow, the NEXIM Bank executive director wanted to
\ntake over NEXIM Bank in grand style to be able to award contracts to
\nherself and family members. But this time the permutation did not work
\nout.
\nSalami is reportedly trying to win the heart of the APC leadership by
\npilling pressure on a former PDP chieftain who recently decamped to the
\nAPC in the North Central. While her original mission of approaching the
\nparty chieftain is to negotiate a soft landing under the Buhari
\ngovernment, the sympathetic reception she got from the politician has
\ncertainly emboldened her to become more ambitious.<\/p>\n
She is said to also be angling to become the replacement for the incumbent
\nExecutive Director of NEXIM, Roberts Orya, who despite his sterling
\nreputation and performance was already penciled for a sack over his
\nrefusal to funnel cash to the Jonathan campaign. His sack letter was
\nalready written and was on the table of the Secretary to the Federal
\nGovernment had Jonathan been re-elected.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Itohan, who has a history of back stabbing, came into NEXIM with a
\nset goal, to amass illicit wealth and power. This singular goal was so
\nblinding that she could not hide her ambition and resultantly even had to
\ngo as cheap as pay the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), and other
\nnumerous media houses to announce her appointment as Managing Director
\ninstead of Executive Director as appointed, thus causing grave
\nembarrassment to the bank’s corporate image.<\/p>\n
When this plot did not work, Mrs. Salami in her malevolence, decided to
\npolarise the staff of the once unified establishment into factions. With
\nthose on her side and supporting her ambition to gain access to the bank’s
\ncooking pot set against the loyal staff of the establishment, thereby
\ncausing organisational incoherence.<\/p>\n
The height of this insubordination came when she had in 2014 set out a
\nbudget of six million naira to ensure the corporate image built by the
\nhardwork and dedication of the leadership of the institution which led to
\ndisrepute, she set out paying for media campaigns and hiring faceless and
\nnefarious groups to bring into disgrace, the good works of Robert Orya and
\nhis wonderful first tenure in office.<\/p>\n
This involved money and phony inciting documents, which were judiciously
\nserved to the tune of three million Naira with a pending balance to a
\ncoalition of civil societies and persons including but not restricted to
\nNigerian United Against Corruption (NUAC), Bash Ali and a certain Senior
\nExecutive of the Conference for Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), one Mr.
\nWilly Ezeugwu, who till date is engaged in a legal tussle with the bank.<\/p>\n
This engagement like all others in her wake did not end well as the money
\npromised the hatchet men was not delivered and has caused a hiatus which
\neven caused the NUAC to write a petition stating these facts to the
\nCentral Bank of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
This petition led to a panel of investigation to which these petitioners
\nappeared and laid their complaints, unfortunately this ended an exercise
\nin futility as it has been suppressed by powers claiming to have come from
\nabove. Sources within the establishment have revealed that the petitioners
\nwere able to prove their allegation beyond reasonable doubts and have also
\nvowed to use all possible means to get their due.<\/p>\n
The same way people blame Diezani for Jonathan failure, Folake
\nwith Patience Jonathan must have accounted for the failure of the last
\nadministration which should be a warning to General Buhari wife not to
\nsurround herself with those who can do anything including sleeping with
\nanybody just to get a government appointment.\u20ac The source said.<\/p>\n
The concern is not unconnected with Salami link to other persons known
\nas henchpersons of the administration. She boasts of connections that
\ninclude controversial Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke;
\nNIMASA Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi and Kennedy Opara of Christian
\nPilgrim Welfare Commission.<\/p>\n
There were indications that Salami may also be acting to test the waters
\non behalf of these others to see how they can use the remainder of their
\ntenure to entrench themselves in the incoming government.<\/p>\n
Alison-Madueke, who was recently sighted donning hijab as she traversed
\nthe northern parts of the country, is known to also be intensely
\npressuring northern leaders to beg Buhari for a soft landing.
\nOpara, on his part is running from one Christian leader to the other
\nappealing to them to again play the religion card as he is said to be
\nworried about the consequences of the billions of naira fraudulently
\nfunneled to him for the elections.<\/p>\n
Reports that earlier filled the air that Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi had
\nfled the country turned out to be hoaxes but investigations revealed that
\nthe NIMASA strongman with strong ties to ex-militants in the Niger Delta
\nhas perfected travel plans to two countries that do not have extradition
\ntreaties with Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Salami desperation may not be unconnected with the questionable roles
\nshe played during and even after the election. Her hatchet job for the
\nincumbent presidency included sourcing of the Indian clairvoyants that
\nconsulted for Patience Jonathan, even as she was at the helms of
\nmobilizing people to protest INEC declaration of General Buhari as the
\nwinner of the election before President Jonathan called the president
\nelect to congratulate him.<\/p>\n
Prior to the election, Salami was in charge of tasking female
\nDirectors-General and Executive Secretaries of federal government agencies
\nand parastatals to skim funds under their jurisdiction for the Jonathan
\ncampaign.<\/p>\n
With the recent pronouncement by the president-elect, to constitute an
\nintegrity committee to ensure all persons appointed into positions of
\nauthority in this administration are upstanding and people of
\nunquestionable integrity headed by Pastor Tunde Bakare, it is pertinent to
\ninform the world and indeed this committee of sheep in wolves clothing
\nlike Mrs. Itohan who has already taken mice-like moves to derail a well
\nset out regime. This change that has blown unilaterally across the nation
\nwas hard earned and should not be soiled by mindless, self-serving
\nelements. Unless these are fished out, corruption like a canker-worm shall
\ncontinue to pervade our economic fabric.
\nOgar O. Simeon wrote in from Abuja.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Ogar Simeon General Muhammadu Buhari win at the March 28 Presidential Election triggered a gale of defections from the Peoples\u20ac\u2122 Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC),…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n