Group Urges Tinubu to Withdraw Appointment of Auditor General

Juliet Akoje in Abuja

A group,  Defenders of Constitutional Democracy (DCD) yesterday called on President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the appointment of Mr. Shaakaa Chira as the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF) and direct the Federal Civil Service Commission to follow due process in the nomination for the position.

The group further urged the Senate not to confirm the appointment, alleging that it was an abuse of seniority in the civil service.

In a statement issued in Abuja, the National Coordinator of DCD,  Abdullahi Aliyu, said that the president was misled by the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) to breach the seniority order by appointing a junior director ahead of his seniors.

“As a group that is committed to defending constitutional democracy, we cannot sit idle and watch when things are not going well. The appointment of Mr. Shaakaa Chira is in complete breach of Civil Service Rules and Regulations. We wish to request that you withdraw the appointment with immediate effect and order for the right thing to be done,” the group said.

According to Aliyu, Chira is number 18 on the seniority list of directors in the Office of Auditor General, wherein there are 17 directors who are his seniors.

“ He was promoted to the rank of director in 2022 and should not have been nominated and appointed over and above very senior directors. He has been in only one department since 2010 and started heading a department only last year December.

“The man was promoted in January 2021 and the exercise conducted was from September 2022 to early 2023,” he added.

According to the group, no reason was given for the sudden jettisoning of the first process for the appointment of Auditor General, which was concluded in 2021.

“Why was that initial process cancelled and some directors prevented from participating in the latest arrangement that produced Chira?” he queried.

Aliyu stressed that besides being a junior director, Chira had not headed any unit before his ‘shocking’ appointment as AuGF.

“If the appointment is allowed to stand, it would breed rancour and disharmony within the rank of directors who are far senior to the appointee and therefore, the whole essence of reforming the audit sector and indeed the civil service would have been defeated.

“In view if this, the DCD is appealing to the Senate not to confirm the appointment of Chira as Auditor General of the Federation, but insist that the relevant Civil Service Rules and Regulations are followed to the letter in the appointment of a new AuGF.

“We want the distinguished Senate to know that with the announcement of a junior director as the AuGF, the morale of career officers in the Office of Auditor General of the Federation has dropped to an all-time low because this distortion has never happened in the history of the civil service,” he added.