BY Chidi Chima
President Muhammadu Buhari has pulled yet another surprise — filling key positions in his government outside of popular speculations.
Against permutations that the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) would be Ogbonnaya Onu or Rotimi Amaechi, Buhari has picked a relatively unknown party man from Adamawa state.
Those who speculated that the chief of staff (CoS) was going to be Babatunde Fashola, former governor of Lagos state, or Hammed Ali, a retired colonel and former military administrator of Kaduna state, have also been shocked with the choice of Abba Kyari, former MD of UBA Plc.
How much do you know about Buhari’s new appointees?
Lawal, from Hong LGA in Adamawa state, is an ICT engineer, PRINCE2-certified project management specialist, APMG-certified change management specialist, business analyst and a Christian theologian with specialisation in missions. He graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1979 with a bachelor in engineering.
He later worked at Delta Steel Company, Aladja, NITEL and Data Sciences Limited. He set up his own ICT and telecommunications consulting firm in 1990. He is also a member of the Nigeria Computer Society, the Nigeria Society of Engineers and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria. He is a staunch member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and was in the inauguation committee headed by Timipre Sylva.
In an interview with Daily Sun newspaper in 2014, Lawal said Boko Haram was sponsored to get sympathy for former President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said: “Boko Haram was sponsored to initially get sympathy for President Jonathan. Now, it has backfired. Let me tell you this. I am a Christian and pastor. In 2012, the campaign was that we should vote for Jonathan because he is a Christian. In the churches, nobody wanted to hear anything about a Muslim president. They did not vote for Buhari. They voted for Jonathan who is a Christian.”
Initially thought to be a possible choice for the SGF position if Onu was not picked, Kyari, from Borno state, is now saddled with organising the personal staff of the president — one of the most powerful jobs in government. His CV is not only rich but diverse: he has two first degrees — one in sociology and the other in law; he has been a banker as well as a newspaper editor.
Kyari got a BA in sociology from the University of Warwick, England, in 1980. He also holds a BA in law from the University of Cambridge, England, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1983. In 1984, he obtained a master’s in law from his alma-mater, the University of Cambridge.
Between 1988 and 1990, he was editor with the New Africa Holdings Limited Kaduna, publishers of Democrat newspapers. He was the Borno state commissioner for forestry and animal resources in 1990 and was secretary to the Board of African International Bank Limited, between 1990 and 1995. He attended the International Institute for Management Development at Lausanne, Switzerland, and participated in the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School, in 1992 and 1994 respectively.
Kyari was executive director, management services, UBA Plc and later the managing director and chief executive of the bank. He was appointed a director of Unilever Nigeria Plc in 2002. He served as honorary member of the presidential advisory council on investment in Nigeria between 2000 and 2005. He is also a director of ExxonMobil Nigeria.
It is now clear that Buhari wants to do a drastic surgery at the Nigeria Customs Service with the appointment of a retired military officer as the new comptroller-general. Ali, former military administrator of Kaduna state from 1996 to 1998, holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminology, but was better known in the military for his strict discipline. He once served as provost marshal.
Ali’s secret moniker is “Netanyahu — Mr. No Compromise”, so named after the tough-talking and tough-acting prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. Once Ali has set his mind to a task, he is said to be unbendable. His integrity has never been questioned, and the fact that he has been driving the same car for over a decade in a country like Nigeria speaks volumes about his personality.
He had, before his new appointment, been serving as the chief of staff to Buhari and many thought he would carry on with the job, but there were also speculations that he could end up at the EFCC. The one-time secretary-general of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) will now work in an unfamiliar and dirty terrain, but his mission is unmistakably clear: to clear the mess!
Less than a week ago, Kure Martin Abeshi was the deputy comptroller-general of immigration, but fortune has smiled on him in the most unexpected way. First, his boss, David Parradang, was suspended reportedly over some questionable recruitment recently done by the service. Second, Abeshi was asked to fill the position temporarily. Third, the governor of Plateau state, Samuel Lalong, came to the presidential villa to plead for Parradang but failed.
And now, Abeshi has now become the de facto head of the service – all within one week.
The new CG, from Nasarawa state, joined the Nigerian Immigration Service in 1989 as an assistant comptroller. His educational qualifications include a master’s in public administration.
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