- President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday, via his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, replied those attacking him for appointing himself as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, saying that he has not broken the law.
- Recall that in an interview last week during his visit to New York, Buhari said he would head the ministry and that he would only appoint a Minister of State to assist him.
- His decision was greeted with so much criticisms from angry Nigerians, who have argued that the nation’s constitution forbids a sitting President from holding another public office.
- But the SSA to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, while speaking to newsmen, slammed those behind the attack on President Buhari, describing them as “briefcase-carrying crooks.”
- He said their attack was because the said crooks were aware that Buhari would not do deals with them and they would not want to go down without putting up a fight, hence the criticism.
- The presidential spokesman added that, “The President has a lot of experience to bring to the oil industry. Besides the military, the oil industry is another area where he is knowledgeable.
“Mr President also has tremendous integrity which he is bringing to the sector, which is the most rotten in the nation’s economy.
“The criticisms are coming from deal makers and briefcase-carrying cooks because they know that Buhari is not a deal maker.
“The deal makers are not ready to go down without shouting because they know that their days are over.”
- On the claim that it is unconstitutional for a sitting President to hold another public office, Shehu said all the powers of the executive arm of government reside in the President.
“The President personifies the Executive. The power of the Executive arm resides in him. He can only be queried if he goes beyond the Executive arm and ventures into the Legislature or Judiciary,” he concluded.
President Buhari maybe right,right or wrong,president obsanjo did retained the oil sector,so this is not a presedent,a president is a really busy man,with pressure from all round,we are all human being,the process of thinking or reasoning maybe clouded,either through (1) sentiment/emotions (2)weakness of the human sprit (3)lack of information/knowledge,e.g life it’self,seasons,history is cyclical.so mr,buhari must change this incentives/cycle in the Nigerian oil sector industry of this perceptions in the oil industry forever..i.e is there corruption/abuses of power,fraud.misrepresentation or not.
When president Obasanjo took over,he commissioned a report to overhaul the oil industry.this was headed by Mr. riwam lukman(if I am correct of his spelling of his name)he recommended that N.N.P.C should be broken -up.today Nigerians have not sent the lights of the detail of this report.the presidency should have submitted the report to the national Assembly for a full discussion by all stake-holder.politicans/communities leader/bankers/central bank of Nigeria/the ministry of finance, many years ago.so everybody will not feels cheated especially, those communiies where oil is extracted from their land.sometimes words spoken implies I want this power,you have or think you have over me( this is the words of the communities to those companies extracting oil from their land)
The N.N.P.C should have been broken-up many years ago,and it can be done within six months,all oil field should be cancelled,the heirs of n.n.p.c must have first refusal in all field,protected.all other oil field should be auctioned,in law/rules set by national Assembly(transparently done,no single man or minister can award any oil field abitrary)biding maybe done in currencies determined by the central of Nigeria and the ministry of finance,those communities where oil is extracted must have some protecting,those marginal oil field winners will negotiates with nigeriian banks on how much deposit interest rates(competition amongst banks if in foreign currencies and the c.b.n can still requires from n.n.p.c heirs money) approved by the C.B. N
This is only temporary to addresses the injustices/unfairness and changes the perceptions of things in Nigeria,i am from Anambra state,i do not think my home state produces oil.if Nigerian economy is firing from all corners all these problem will not be there.it will over-reaches all.