..Tackles DCD
By Andrew Oota
The League of professionals In Politics (LPP)have described as cheap, ignorant and unecessary mischief ; the call by a group by the name Defenders of Constitutional Democracy on President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the appointment of Mr. Shaaakaa Chira as the Auditor General of the Federation .
The LPP in a statement signed by it’s National president Dr Paul Adeyemi and Secretary Mahmud Bala called on the DCD to carefully study the process and procedure for the appointment of the Auditor General of the Federation as well as the qualification for the office and stop embarrassing themselves in public space .
According to the statement made availlable to journalists in Abuja, the professionals stated that all known processes for the appointment of the Auditor General for the federation were judiciously and carefully followed by the Civil service commission which oversees the career progress and recommendations were made to the President Commander In Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu before the announcement.
The statement reads in parts ,”we as professionals have kept an eye on all the processes that culminated into that appointment and it shocks us that a group will come up with unfounded allegations of abuse of civil service career against an institution with constitutional mandate to act in such situations .
“We want to educate the authors of that statement and call, that this candidate has held the position of a Director in the office of the Auditor General which qualifies him in the first instance to be seat for the examination which was obviously competitive and he came top of that examination.
“He was unanimously and in good faith, recommended for the appointment and Mr President as a law abiding citizen of this country,graciously acted on that recommendation on the basis of merit to appoint Mr Shaakaa Chira. And it only speaks to the fact that merit and competence were the dominant factors in that appointment and nothing else .
“It therefore beats our imaginations that a group of people ,obviously ignorant of a painstaking process will come into public space to cast such aspersions”
The LPP maintained that there are offices in Nigeria that should be manned by professionals who have distinguished themselves in there areas of speciality, particularly at this time of economic downturn ,adding that “we want to remind the DCD that the office of the Auditor General amongst other offices should be for political patronage or regional or sectional or religious considerations, these offices are for the right people who will help this Government address the economic challenges, security challenges , tackle corruption and deal with other vices that hinder development “.
“We therefore urge the Senate to immediately activate the process of screening and confirmation of this nominee and if they found him competent which we are sure they will.
“This is the time to hit the ground running it is not the time to play politics with issues of national importance and weep unecessary sentiments. We therefore urge the distinguished senators to do the needful as required by law.
“It is most unfortunate for a group of people to make ridiculous allegations that the civil service commission misled the President, it only shows the level of mischief they are made up of . But this should not deter the Senate or the President from moving ahead with this choice”.
The statement added,” the law says the Auditor-General for the Federation shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Federal Civil Service Commission subject to confirmation by the Senate and that is exactly the process after a very competitive examination was conducted “
