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The NPA was among the agencies under the supervision of Amaechi during his tenure as transportation minister from 2015 to 2022.
Former presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu has disclosed that late ex-President Muhammadu Buhari approved the removal of Hadiza Bala Usman as Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority despite their close personal relationship, following a recommendation by former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi.
Shehu made the disclosure in Abuja on Thursday while speaking on his new book, ‘According to the President’, which chronicles Buhari’s leadership style, policy priorities and approach to governance.
The NPA was among the agencies under the supervision of Amaechi during his tenure as transportation minister from 2015 to 2022.
According to Shehu, Amaechi recommended Bala Usman’s suspension over allegations that the NPA under her leadership failed to remit about ₦165bn operating surplus to the Federal Government.
Although Bala Usman was later cleared by an administrative panel of inquiry set up to investigate the allegations, Shehu said Buhari acted decisively at the time based on the minister’s advice.
“See what happened with Hadiza Bala Usman and Governor Amaechi,” Shehu said.
“Hadiza was to Buhari like a daughter. And they had an ongoing disagreement with the minister. The minister wrote to say, ‘Mr President, I recommend that she should be suspended from office’.”
Shehu said that despite objections from within the Presidency, Buhari insisted on implementing the recommendation.
“When the President looked at it, the Chief of Staff came to him and said, ‘President, we can’t do this’,” Shehu recounted.
“Buhari looked at the Chief of Staff and said, ‘This is my approval. Go and carry it out because the minister is her supervising boss and he has determined that she’s not worthy of that office she’s keeping’.”
“Hadiza Bala was asked to go. That’s the kind of person Buhari was. He was completely detached from personal interest,” Shehu added.
In her memoir, ‘Stepping on Toes: My Odyssey at the Nigerian Ports Authority’, Bala Usman offered a different account of events, accusing Amaechi of seeking her removal because two major contracts at the NPA were due for renewal.
She alleged that the former minister demanded extensions of the capital dredging contracts without due process, an allegation Amaechi has denied.
Bala Usman, who now serves as Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy and Coordination, was eventually cleared of wrongdoing by an administrative panel of inquiry set up to investigate the alleged mismanagement.
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