President Bola Tinubu made a constitutional breach on the appointment of a new management team for the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), SaharaReporters has gathered.
Tinubu in March in a press statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, appointed Umar Abdullahi Umar as the new Executive Director of the agency.
Umar is the son of ex-Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State and the embattled National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The appointment came after the suspension of Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, alongside three Executive Directors of the agency, from office.
The statement also announced the appointment of Abba Aliyu as Managing Director/CEO, Ayoade Gboyega as Executive Director, Corporate Services, Doris Uboh as Executive Director, Rural Electrification Fund and Olufemi Akinyelure as Head of the Project Management Unit, Nigeria Electrification Project.
SaharaReporters, however, learnt that the action violated Section 130, Sub-sections 3 and 4 of the new Electricity Act (Amendment) which was signed by President Tinubu in February 2024.
The section of the Electricity Act states: “All members of the Board (REA) shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Minister
“Six members appointed to represent the six geographical zones of Nigeria out of which one shall be designated as part-time chairman, two others designated as non-executive directors while the other three shall serve as Executive Director and the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the agency.”
While the South East, North East and North Central regions currently have nobody on the REA board, the North West has two representatives, in the persons of Ganduje’s son, and the MD/CEO, Abba Abubakar Aliyu.
The duo are both also from Kano State, it was further gathered.
Blaming the power minister, Adebayo Adelabu, a source in the agency said, “It’s too early in the day to see the results of the actions or inactions of the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu. Adelabu, a banker by experience, has its job well cut out for him.
“He came under fire recently for insulting Nigerians in a vain bid to defend the hike in electricity tariff for those who enjoy electricity supply for 20 hours by almost 300 percent.
“The recent appointments of Rural Electrification Agency, REA board, and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer by President Bola Tinubu is also not a good advertisement for the minister as the Moses to lead us to the promised land of uninterrupted power supply.
“According to Section 130 of the new Electricity Act, all members of the Board shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the minister. Mark the words: On the recommendation of the minister. The electricity issue in Nigeria should definitely not be a laughing matter, or for political patronage, considering that the country has long been grappling with inadequate power supply, and energy is critical to all nations’ social and economic developments.
“So, for Nigeria to turn the corner, the government must give the job of directing the affairs of MDAs in the power sector to a safe pair of hands. On the REA matter, it grieves one that Adelabu elected to find a job for the boys at the expense of local businesses and the greater number of Nigerians groaning under the strain of protracted, epileptic power supply.
“What informed the appointment of the son of the ex-Kano governor and National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, Umar, beyond being somebody’s son?
“There are many other things that disqualify Umar: public perception of his father as a sleaze personified, rightly or wrongly drawn from the Gandollar video, and the ongoing prosecution of the immediate past Kano first family, including Umar for alleged corruption and bribery while they held sway in the state.
“Let us admit that an accused is presumed innocent until it’s proved otherwise by the court. But Umar’s appointment is not good for the optics, particularly for an agency having trust issues, stemming from the corruption allegations rocking the organisation. It was no surprise that an online news medium settled for the headline, ‘Tinubu chooses Ganduje’s son as director in agency rocked by ‘₦1.2bn fraud’.
“That said, Adelabu also erred in law with regards to another part of the aforementioned section of the Electricity Act, which says that six members appointed to represent the six geographical zones of Nigeria out of which one shall be designated as part-time chairman, two others designated as non-executive directors while the other three shall serve as Executive Director and the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the agency.
“It beats one that the same Tinubu who signed the Electricity Bill whose Act is in force into law is the same person that cannot follow the law to the letter. Three regions have nobody on the Board but North West has two representatives who are both from Kano, Ganduje’s son and the MD. It’s pertinent to add that the law only permits two representatives from a geopolitical zone on the Board when one of them is appointed as the Chairman.
“The appointment of Ganduje’s son and Aliyu into these most important offices in REA sealed the fate of checks and balances in the agency under the new regime. Shutting out three other zones by not appointing persons from there, favouring only Kano with two appointments, and leaving out the other six states in the North West, bring into question the sense of justice and fairness of the minister.”
He added, “When you put into context that another Kano man, one Mogaji, is the current Director of Fund, and his predecessor, Abubakar Sambo, was key to the perpetration of the alleged multi-billion naira fraud by the suspended MD, and some Directors and staff members of REA, then it’s safe to say that the agency is still in wrong hands.
“His choice of Aliyu as the new honcho points to one thing ‐ that it is not a new dawn in REA, given that the incumbent was brought into the agency to head a unit, Nigeria Electrification Project.
“In all honesty, the situations on the ground, portend that the agency is still trapped in the past, which is best brought home by a purported, unofficial report of the investigative team of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on the graft that made the President sack the Board, suspend the MD/CEO and enthron Aliyu in acting capacity.”
In March, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) published a report detailing how the suspended Managing Director and some of his team members stole N12.4 billion between 2020 and 2023.
According to EFCC, it received complaints of misappropriation, procurement fraud and money laundering ongoing in the REA and sent investigators to probe them.
During this probe, the commission uncovered more anomalies.
Among these anomalies was the fact that Salihijo had 37 bank accounts linked to his biometric verification number (BVN) but declared only two accounts to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
The commission further revealed that about N1.2 billion, which immediately accounted for Ahmad’s suspension, was sent into the accounts of eight staff members of the agency.
Although Ahmad and four others were the initial focus of the investigation, the EFCC has also indicted two directors of the REA for alleged involvement in malpractices in the agency and said it had uncovered the involvement of others in the alleged fraud.
The EFCC is accusing REA’s top officials of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of public funds, procurement fraud and money laundering.
One of the anti-corruption commission’s points of the investigation was the uncovering of 27 accounts linked with Ahmad.
Part of the EFCC report reads, “That the suspect made a false declaration at the Code of Conduct Bureau as he operates (27) active accounts against the (2) accounts declared by him.
“That on the 1st of September, 2020, Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad declared his assets with the Code of Conduct Bureau.
“That the suspect declared only two bank accounts with the Code of Conduct Bureau.
“That the suspect made a false declaration at the Code of Conduct Bureau as he stated that he does not have any factory or enterprise while in reality, he is a director in five (5) companies and shareholder (owner) in four (4) companies.
“That the suspect did not declare that he owns any factory or enterprise in the forms he filled at the Code of Conduct Bureau.”
The report on the issue of N12.4 billion COVID-19 cash, reportedly stated: “That in the year 2020 and 2021, two tranches of N6.2 billion each totalling N12.4 billion was disbursed by the Federal Government to the Rural Electrification Agency.
“That the funds were meant to fulfill the Federal Government’s economic sustainability plan of ‘Energy for All’ aimed at mass rural solar power lighting.
“That the agency decided to procure basically solar mini grid and solar lights in selected health care facilities and surrounding communities in the Federation.
“That for all the contracts proposed to be awarded by the agency, Selective Tendering procurement method was adopted and it was imperative to therefore seek ‘certificate of no objection’ from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
“That the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) issued ‘Certificate of No Objection’ while emphasizing that the agency should invite and request financial quotation from various companies for each lot, before awarding the contracts.
“That for most of the lots, the agency did not heed the directive of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) but rather went ahead to award most of the contracts to their choice contractors without inviting other approved contractors for each lot.
“That this approach did not give fair value to the government as financial quotation was not sought and received for consideration from other contractors as approved by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
“That the Rural Electrification Agency therefore awarded a total number of (77) contracts and (7) consultancy jobs to various contractors.
“That the narration of the contract award as furnished by the agency indicates contract splitting as contracts with the same project narration which should have been awarded as a single project, were split in numerous bits.
“The agency awarded contracts worth N300m to two companies for the same training programme. The two companies, Cees Assist Resources Limited and Braintask Value Resources Limited, have the same owner, one Umaefulem Chibueze, who was used to siphon funds through the programme.
“A director in the agency, Alaba Netufo, was running a private business to which some contractors of the agency had on several occasions paid money.
“Gross misappropriation of N12.4bn COVID-19 funds disbursed by the FG to the agency in two tranches of (N6.2 billion) each in 2020 and 2021 for mass rural solar power lighting.
“Agency was involved in coercing contractors executing zonal intervention and capital projects to pay 5% of the contract sum as ‘’monitoring and evaluation’’ charges, “which are usually paid in cash to senior/management staff of the agency and are, more often than not, embezzled.
“Payments totalling N728.9m made by the agency to 15 contractors in 2023 for consultancy jobs were “channels for stealing and diversion of public funds majorly because by virtue of the job roles of certain staff of the agency being zonal coordinators, project department as well as monitoring and evaluation department, it was unnecessary, ridiculous and alarming that external consultants were still engaged to execute the same responsibilities.
“N1.2bn was siphoned between March and June 2023 through eight staff in the agency’s account department.
“Payment of N1.2bn bank by the Director of Finance and Accounts, Abdullahi Sambo to bank accounts of (8) staff of the department as well as himself for project monitoring.
“Upon receipt of the said funds, the Director of Finance and Accounts instructed his allies to purchase various choice properties and assets being plots of land, houses and a car in his favour.
“The Director of Finance and Accounts also directed one Usman Kwakwa to convert the total sum of (N159,608,464.38) to United States Dollars; this he did using two Bureau De Change Operators namely Laba Ibrahim and Ahmed Musa.
“Usman Kwakwa also transferred various sums of monies totalling (N115,749,000.00) to some senior staff and management of the agency. The Director of Finance and Accounts benefitted over (N414,346,343.51) from the loot.”
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