Appointment of Atiku as DCNA tears NASS bureaucracy apart

The appointment of Ibrahim Atiku as Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly (DCNA) by the Engineer Ahmed Amshi-led National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) has torn the National Assembly bureaucracy apart.

No fewer than thirteen permanent secretaries who were Atiku’s superiors/seniors in the service of the National Assembly have kicked against the appointment.

Their antagonism became evident immediately after the announcement by the NASC, which caught all of them unawares.

Advertisement

There has been growing tension in the bureaucracy since the appointment of Atiku last weekend.

THE CONCLAVE reports that the permanent secretaries have sent a representation to the leadership of the National Assembly on the procedural impropriety in the elevation of a director over and above his superior permanent secretaries.

Chairman of the National Assembly and President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Godswill Akpabio, as learnt, is unhappy with the development and has reportedly assured the top bureaucrats that the leadership of the National Assembly would step into the matter.

THE CONCLAVE reports that although Atiku had just written his promotion exam to the position of permanent secretary, the result, as of the time of his appointment and as of press time, had yet to be released.

A source close to the development told THE CONCLAVE that “even if his result had been released and he had passed, the fact remains that he has no fewer than 13 other permanent secretaries who were in that position before him. It was unjust, and a flagrant breach of seniority rule for the NASC to pick a subordinate over and above his superiors to fill the vacant seat of the DCNA.”

Atiku’s appointment has drawn flaks from the higher and lower rungs of the ladder in the NASS bureaucracy as many senior staff members as well as junior members of staff have expressed concerns that the appointment could destroy intra service harmony.

They expressed disappointment at the way and manner, the Amshi-led NASC is lending itself to the promotion of acts and decisions that embarrass the National Assembly and its officials as well portray the totality of the Service in a bad light.

But while some senior staff members argued that Atiku, who is the beneficiary of the NASC’s procedural impropriety, is a complete gentleman and a respected senior director, who should be a likely permanent secretary, if he passed his exam and was promoted, to step into the vacuum about to be created when the outgoing Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), from the North West bows out in February 2, 2025.

These senior staff members pointed out that the NASC had embarked on an enterprise that was capable of embarrassing the person of Ibrahim Atiku, who has now become a subject-beneficiary of a circumvented process, in a conspiratorial antic, to make him a DCNA when he was not the rightful person to step into the position.

They insisted that for anyone to be elevated to the position of DCNA, such a person must be a permanent secretary to be so considered to occupy the strategic office.

THE CONCLAVE further reports that the permanent secretaries are also nursing quiet fears about the collateral damage Atiku’s appointment, if allowed to stand, would cause to the NASS bureaucracy.

One top officer of the NASS queried: “what then happens to the permanent secretaries that are his seniors? Is there a plot to force them out of Service before their retirements are due. It should be noted that this is not Armed Forces where such a thing happen once a junior officer is elevated over his superiors.

“The superiors will be bound to ease themselves out of service. Here in the NASS bureaucracy, it is a different ball game. Superior officers working under their hitherto subordinate officer would be sad, annoying, frustrating, stressing and traumatising. I can imagine the internal tension and trust deficit that will ramify the bureaucracy.”

Meanwhile, some stakeholders have berated the NASC for the unprofessional way it had gone about this particular assignment.

They wondered why the Commission that got it right with the appointment of Barrister Kamorudeen Ogunlana as acting Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA) would reverse that gain by veering off the path of procedural regularity.

The Commission has now brought confusion into the system, which the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas have resolved to deal with in the interest of justice, peace and harmony in the NASS bureaucracy.

THE CONCLAVE learnt that moves are on to cause the NASC to review the process that threw up Atiku as acting DCNA.

Another officer said this was the right thing to do, pointing out that “the Commission is supposed to give direction and ensure discipline and professional conduct, but now that the reverse is the case, it behoves the leadership of the National Assembly to rein the Commission in and query its hurriedness to appoint a DCNA.”

Amid charges of nepotism and ethnicity, the Engineer Amshi-led NASC is struggling to free itself from allegation of personal interest. Amshi, Chairman of the NASC from Borno, as alleged, originally preferred one of his own from the same state, who is a permanent secretary of Procurement Directorate, for the position of DCNA, to, as claimed, please the vice president, but unfortunately, he didn’t get the desired support. Amshi had to look the way of Atiku from Sokoto.

Both senior staff and stakeholders contend that the commission should be seen to embark on a redemptive mission by doing the needful, get from among the existing permanent secretaries as DCNA to fill up the vacancy in February 2025.

An official said: “There are many qualified permanent secretaries to fill up the vacancy that will happen in February, 2025. And, they should stop embarrassing people by appointments that may not stand the test of time; not doing this, will only expose the commission and National Assembly, to ridicule. This kind of absurdity, should not be allowed and condoned under the watch of Akpabio and Abbas’ watch.”