A civil society group, Network For Truth and JUSTICE has lauded the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha for releasing a circular in which President Muhammadu Buhari approved a directive guidance outlining the procedure on how to discipline heads of government parastatals, agencies and departments in order to check arbitrary removal of heads of MDAs by their ministers without following due process.
In a press statement on Wednesday in Abuja and signed by the national coordinator Mallam Musa Gombe lamented that the Minister of Environment unlawfully removed from office, Dr. Dominic Abonyi- the Registrar of Environmental Health Officers Council of Nigeria (EHORECON), an agency of the Federal Ministry of Environment in contravention of the agency’s establishment act as well as clear violation of the Public Service Rules.
The group appeals to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation , Mr Boss Mustapha to immediately reinstate Dr. Dominic Abonyi as the Registrar of the Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria saying that his removal was in clear breach of the SGF Circular in which President Buhari duly approved a new procedure on how to discipline heads of government parastatals in accordance with Public Service Rules and international best practices in addition to full compliance of the doctrine of fair trial as enunciated in Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution.
Speaking further, Network for Public Service Reform noted that Dr. Abonyi’s illegal removal from office was mired in forgery alleging that the Permanent Secretary’s signature (Mrs. Ibukun Odusote) was forged via a letter EMENVI/ADM/544/1/125 on unfounded and baseless complaints/petitions against the renewal of his tenure.
The group is at lost on the six month delay by the minister of environment to “initiate and administer its so-called necessary process for the review and verification of the renewal of his tenure”.
They lambasted the minister for engaging in acts incongruous to the code of conduct of the public service in Nigeria. Network for Public Service Reform stated that the injustice meted out to Dr. Dominic Abonyi is an affront to the public service rules in Nigeria and must not be allowed to stand.
The group lamented that whereas the so- called illegal letter announcing his “stepping aside’ directed him to hand over the running of the affairs of the council to the most senior director. Mr. Mba Victor Kalu. Mr. Yakubu Baba not qualified and outside the line of succession on the prompting of the incumbent minister of environment usurped the leadership of the Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria and has since then been pillaging the resources of the council.
Mr. Yakubu Baba allegedly has become a willing tool in the hands of the minister of environment to amass stupendous wealth at the expense of the tax payer to horn his Kaduna State governorship ambition.
The group condemned the ominous silence of the minister of state whose transparency and pedigree as the head of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) stands tall and evergreen in the annals of public service in Nigeria.
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