Confusion As Buhari Extends Gana’s Tenure

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Confusion as President Muhammadu Buhari extends the tenure of Commandant General of Civil Defence Corps<br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a> <&sol;strong>has learnt that President Muhammadu Buhari has extended the tenure of the Commandant General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps&comma;<br &sol;>&NewLine;NSCDC<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Confusion <strong>as<&sol;strong>&comma;  in this scenario&comma; arose&comma; according to credible sources&comma; from  Gana whose  extended tenure elapsed on Monday January 18&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In 2019&comma; the federal government through the Ministry of Interior elongated his tenure by six months&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;NSCDC spokesman&comma; Emmanuel Okeh&comma; in a statement on July 19&comma; announced that the Minister of Interior&comma; Rauf Aregbeshola communicated the approval&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Now&comma; the presidency has asked Gana to remain in office pending an official memo on the next line of action&comma;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Gana was said to have handed over yesterday to a Deputy Commandant General&comma; Hilary Kelechi Madu&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;But the presidency&comma; it was gathered&comma; insists it did not give a handover directive and as such&comma; the status quo be maintained&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The claim is that Gana still has two years in service&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;If so&comma; stakeholders wonder why was he granted a six-month extension that elapsed on Monday&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;They argue that the government could have in 2019 approved his incumbency until &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;actual” retirement date<br &sol;>&NewLine;Madu is currently the most senior officer at NSCDC after Gana&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The DCG in charge of Operations now has to wait longer as efforts are being made to further extend his boss’s stay in office&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Powerful forces are lobbying the presidency and top officials for this to happen&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;President Muhammadu Buhari and Aregbesola had been warned not to grant additional tenure extension to heads of paramilitary agencies&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Aside Gana&comma; others are Controller-General&comma; Nigeria Correctional Service &lpar;NCoS&rpar;&comma; Jaafaru Ahmed&comma; and Comptroller-General&comma; Nigeria Immigration Service &lpar;NIS&rpar;&comma; Muhammad Babandede&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;A retired Immigration Officer&comma; Daniel Makolo&comma; describes Aregbesola as the sources of confusion as nobody knows where it would end&period; He stated that Aregbesola acted beyond his constitutional authority ab initio&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Aregbesola chairs the Civil Defence&comma; Correctional&comma; Fire and Immigration Services Board &lpar;CDCFIB&rpar;&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Makolo said he had no legal power &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;to recommend or extend the statutory tenure of any public servant&comma; no matter and however industrious such an officer may be&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;The human rights lawyer pointed out that the Public Service Commission is the body empowered with specific provisions for entry and exit&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The practice of arbitrary&comma; illegal elongation of the statutory tenure of public office occupants sets a dangerous precedent for bureaucracy and national security”&comma; he warned&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;