President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday has approved the removal of Junior Petroleum Minister, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Dr. Kachikwu was replaced by Dr Maikanti Kacalla Baru.
The former GMD, Kachikwu has been battling several cabals within the organization who have been frantically lobbying for his removal and have leaked several reports of his replacement to the press with the signal of the Presidency group. It is also on record that the APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu who recently criticized him openly, has been displeased with the NNPC described as arrogant because he also had direct access to the President.
Kachikwu’s trouble was compounded as the agenda to replace him was further sold by the men around power who pitched that the Minister was becoming a hero by making the Presidency look bad in his efforts to defend his Niger Delta people. His open rebuke of his colleague, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, a favorite of the President didn’t help the President who was not convinced on the need to remove Kachikwu.
Allegations against him included closet membership of the PDP, and various groups have petitioned the Presidency citing his brother Dumebi Kachikwu as a financier of the party in Delta State.
A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, disclosed that President Buhari “approved the composition of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), as provided for under Section 1(2) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Act of 1997, as amended.”
The new board is composed of the following:
A. Chairman-Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum;
B. Group Managing Director-Dr Maikanti Kacalla Baru;
C. The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance; and
D. The following six persons:
1. Mallam Abba Kyari
2. Dr Thomas M.A John
3. Dr Pius O. Akinyelure
4. Dr Tajuddeen Umar
5. Mallam Mohammed Lawal, and
6. Mallam Yusuf Lawal.
President Buhari urges the new board to ensure the successful delivery of the mandate of the NNPC, ” and serve the nation by upholding the public trust placed on them in managing this critical national asset,” the statement read.
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