I’m not aware Petersides’ sack – Amaechi
Jamoh is Buhari’s in-law – Fani-Kayode
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday approved the appointment of Mr. Bashir Jamoh as the director general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) thus denying Dr. Dakuku Peterside a second term in office.
Peterside has been having a running battle with the national assembly for failing to audit the agency’s account for the past six years.
In December 2019, the senate reportedly threatened to issue an arrest warrant against Peterside over his refusal to honour an invitation of the joint committee on navy, maritime and finance, to answer questions about the activities of a private security company and some government security agencies accused of collecting illegal fees for securing vessels at the safe anchorage area.
On Tuesday, he again incurred the wrath of the national assembly by failing to appear personally in response to summons by the joint committee investigating activities of foreign vessel owners in Nigeria.
Those who went to represent NIMASA were sent out of the chamber.
Reacting to the development, the minister of transportation and Peterside’s political godfather, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, said was not aware of the reported sack.
He said the erstwhile NIMASA chief’s tenure, Amaechi said, expires on Tuesday.
“Until his tenure expires that is when you can approach Mr. President either to reappoint or replace him. By law the president has appointment authority, while the minister has the recommendation authority.”
“As the minister of transport, I should know. Government does not take unilateral decisions; if he were to be sacked I should have been intimated of his sack, but I am not aware, although his tenure expires on Tuesday,” Amaechi said on a television programme on Thursday.
Also reacting, the former minister of aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode took to his Twitter handle saying the president had appointed another northerner into a key position adding that the appointee is Jamoh is President Buhari’s in-law.
“Buhari has kicked out Rotimi Ameachi’s ally &southern Christian, Dakuku Peterside, & appointed yet another northern Muslim into a key position in his Govt. His name is Bashir Jamoh from Kaduna State.
“Apart from being from a northern Muslim, he is also the President’s in-law.
I wonder how Buhari’s useful idiots and accursed slaves from the south feel about that? Even the few crumbs that he gave them are now being taken away. Poor lost souls,” Fani-Kayode wrote.
The new helmsman is currently the executive director, administration and finance at NIMASA.
Jamoh, who hails from Kaduna, is also the president of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria.
The 56-year-old holds a PhD from the University of Port Harcourt, specialising in logistics and transport management.
He also holds a master’s degree in management from Korea Maritime and Ocean University, a post-graduate diploma in management sciences from Bayero University, Kano and a diploma in accounting from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Jamoh is said to have 32 years of professional experience in the transportation and maritime sector.
He joined NIMASA in 2003 as an assistant chief commercial officer, eastern and central zones.
He served with the Kaduna State government before transferring his services to the then National Maritime Authority in 1994.
