Senate Probes Failure to Reinstate Sacked NDPHC GM, Despite Buhari’s Directive

Damilola Oyedele in Abuja

The Senate has mandated its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to probe the failure to reinstate the sacked General Manager (Audit and Compliance) of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Mrs. Maryam Danna Mohammed; over a year after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered that she be reinstated.

In a petition submitted on her behalf by Senator Baba Kaka Garbai (Borno APC), Mohammed appealed for the Senate to ensure her reinstatement after 24 years of meritorious service in the service of Nigeria.

She noted that she has never been found wanting in discharge of her duties from her time at the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to the NDPHC.

Mohammed was erroneously dismissed in June 2016 based on the dissolution of the management of the company conveyed in a letter signed by the recently sacked Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir David Lawal.

She was however not part of the executive management of the company, and is one of 13 General Managers, with the remaining 12 not affected by the dissolution.

“There are 12 other General Managers of the same status as me that were allowed to remain in their positions, obviously because they are staff of the company and not members of the dissolved Executive Management. This obviously makes the decision to disengage me without committing any offence discriminatory and unfair,” Mohammed said in her petition.

“It is also instructive to point out that throughout my 24 years of service to the country, I have never been found wanting in the discharge of my duties or was involved in any form of misconduct. Records are readily available to authenticate these facts,” she added.

Mohammed had petitioned President Buhari in June 2016, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who is the Chairman of the NDPHC, over her wrongful disengagement from service. After investigations by the Office of the Attorney General, Mr. Abubakar Malami concluded in October 2016, the President directed that she be reinstated.

A copy of Malami’s letter to the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari, attached to the petition reads:

“Please refer to your letter reference No SH/DSD/COS/03/1/A/15 dated 1st July 2016 and our response Ref. No. MJ/DSD/ SH/ 22/ Vol 1/38 dated 7th September, 2016 on the above subject matter. In this connection, I wish to convey to you, Mr. President’s approval vide a meeting with me on the 12th October, 2016 for the reinstatement of the staff (petitioner), Mrs. Maryam Danna Mohammed.”

She is however yet to be reinstated despite the directive. In December of 2016, she wrote another letter to the President, indicating that she is yet to be reinstated despite his directive.

The Senate Committee on Ethics is expected to report back to plenary in two weeks.