By Ishaya Ibrahim and
Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
President Muhammadu Buhari has fully cornered up for Northerners the top jobs in all the five paramilitary agencies, with the appointment of Ahmed Jafaru as new controller general of prisons (CGP).
But more curiously is why the Presidency overlooked allegations that Jafaru has falsified his age twice.
TheNiche reported exclusively on April 17 that he was born on September 30, 1956 but has allegedly changed his date of birth first to 1957, then to 1959 to remain in service.
Jafaru succeeded Peter Ekpendu who retired last month after attaining the statutory age of 60.
His appointment has generated bad blood among officers, especially those from the South West.
Ogundele ignored
Emmanuel Ogundele (South West) had earlier been appointed acting CGP, only for Jafaru to be made substantive CGP seven days later.
The government ignored Ogundele, who reportedly did well at the interview and has an impeccable record of service, according to Prisons sources.
Jafaru mum
Sources alleged that Jafaru had filed false information about his age; he was scheduled to go on retirement on September 30, 2016; yet Abuja appointed him.
He did not answer calls to his telephone line or reply to a text message when TheNiche sought his reaction.
All the Northern men
Jafaru is from the North West, so is the new Comptroller General of Immigration, Mohammed Babandede.
All the heads of paramilitary agencies in the Interior Ministry are from the North, and officers feel that by this latest appointment, Buhari has shown gross contempt for the constitutional provision for federal character in appointments into offices.
Interior Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazau, who oversees all paramilitary organisations except the Customs, is from Kano State in the North West.
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), headed by Hameed Ali (Kaduna State), is under the Finance Ministry.
The heads of three out of the five paramilitary agencies in the Interior Ministry – Customs, Immigration, Prisons – are from the North West; those of Civil Defence and Fire Service from the North Central.
Immigration is headed by Babandede (Jigawa State), Civil Defence by Abdullahi Mohammed (Niger State), and the Fire Service by Joseph Garba (Plateau).
Key security posts
Other Northerners who occupy key security posts are Chief of Army Staff, Major-General, Tukur Buratai (Borno State); Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall Sadique Abubakar (Bauchi State); Chief of Defence Intelligence, Air Vice Marshall Monday Morgan (Benue State); and National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno (Borno State).
The other contestant who did not get the post of CGP, Aminu Suley, a Fulani from the North, is serving under Jafaru (Kebbi State) who is eight years his junior in rank.
Civil society gathers evidence
It was learnt that civil society groups are gathering evidence to challenge the appointments Buhari has made so far because they are in total breach of the federal character principle.
Joint Action Front (JAF) Executive Director, Achike Chude, faulted the appointments, saying Buhari is not working with the dynamics of administration.
“His appointments give room for suspicion that he has a regional agenda. There is a growing belief that he is doing it deliberately because he could have been more careful and tactful,” Chude said.
But both Centre for Democracy and Development (CCD) Executive Director, Idayat Hassan and Nigerian Network of NGOs (NNNGOs), Executive Director, Kunle Idowu, declined to comment.
Also, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) Executive Director, Auwal Rafsanjani, did not answer calls to his telephone line.
N14,000 daily allocation false
Investigation by TheNiche showed that the claim by Dambazau that the government spends N14,000 daily on every prisoner is false.
Prisoners are still poorly fed and badly accommodated.
Prisoners and prison officials told TheNiche that many inmates cook their meals to avoid the concoctions usually served by the authorities.
When prison vehicles breakdown, they added, awaiting trial inmates are asked to contribute money for repair or risk missing court hearings.
Dambazau claimed in Kaduna on May 10 that the government spends N10 billion yearly on feeding prisoners, which translates to N14,000 per day for the 57,000, inmates across the country.
Stripped down to N50
A source in the Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) countered that the Interior Ministry allocates N450 per prisoner per day.
According to another source, up to N400 of the N450 is stolen by warders, leaving only N50 for each inmate.
TheNiche learnt that the N14,000 allocation may well be true on paper, with our source saying the money is probably pocketed by officials of the Interior Ministry.
“That is why we have been making the case that the NPS should be moved from the Interior Ministry and merged with the Ministry of Justice,” he stressed.