25th June, 2015
Taiwo Adelu
A group, Center For Anti-Corruption Advocacy, has called for the sack of Head of Service of the Federation (HOSF), Mr. Danladi Kifasi by President Muhammadu Buhari for allegedly ignoring the laid down rules and procedure in the appointment of the acting Accountant General of the Federation (AGF).
The group also wants Buhari to disregard the selection process for the new Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) which the HOSF did recently through an examination in Abuja.
The group, headed by Hajia Hafzat Lawal, said that Kifasi erred by putting forward the name of a junior director at the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), Mohammed K. Dikwa to Buhari for approval as the acting AGF where there is a senior director, Mr. Omoniyi Fagbemi, who had always acted for the erstwhile AGF, Mr. Jonah Otunla who left office early this month.
“We are senstising the Nigerian public and most importantly President Buhari for him to be aware of the politics going on in the selection of an Accountant General of the Federation. We know the workings in the OAGF and we are in a better position to comment on this topic. We want to believe that the HOSF is acting the script of former government of PDP and this must be checked.
“Buhari must disregard the just concluded selection process for the AGF and order a transparent selection that must follow the civil service rules,” Hajia Lawal said.
The group wants Buhari to issue to the HOSF for ignoring civil service rules and procedure, including presidential directive that the most senior director be deployed to act as the AGF, when he deployed Dikwa to the position.
“This process would no doubt promote acrimony in the OAGF as Kifasi had not followed due process right from the selection of acting AGF and the examination his office conducted to select the new AGF. The Center For Anti Corruption Advocacy believes the HOSF, Kifasi, is trying to undermine the due process and anti-corruption crusade of President Buhari and this must not go unpunished.
“We are not acting on behalf of anybody but we believe a change Nigerians desire now must be build on due process and transparency, especially filling a sensitive position like that of the Accountant General of the Federation in Nigeria. Appointment of the new AGF should not be based on religion and ethnicity. We want competence to be the yardstick,” she said.