A group, Concerned Stakeholders for Good Governance (CSGG), has, in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, asked him to ignore the Sokoto State chapter of the All Progressives Congress that recently opposed the nomination of Hajiya Aisha Abubakar as the ministerial candidate from Sokoto State.
The state chapter had, in a letter to Buhari, protested “the constitutional infraction inherent in the nomination of Hajiya Aisha Abubakar” because she hails from the same LGA as Governor Aminu Tambuwal.
CSGG dismissed the issue of “zoning” as simply mischievous: “The good people of Sokoto state are Hausa/Fulani’s and zoning is alien and a non-issue in Sokoto State, when it comes to elections and political appointments. That is the way it has always been! For example, the current Governor, His Excellency Hon. Aminu Tambuwal and Senator Umar Dahiru are both from Tambuwal local government and they both were in the National Assembly at the same time when Hon. Tambuwal was speaker of the House of Representatives.”
The group gave examples with seven other governors who hail from the same area as ministerial nominees from their states.
On the allegation that she was not a party stalwart, the CSGG said: “It should be noted that there is no legal requirement under any Nigerian law that a person must be a member of a particular political party before they can be appointed as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or any other appointable executive position. In this regard, the appointment of Hajiya Aisha Abubakar has not contravened any legal provision as far as the law is concerned.”
On her competency: “Hajiya Aisha Abubakar has characterized herself in her field of endeavor as a professional and as a diligent Nigerian. Never once, in more than two decades of public service, has any issue of incompetence been brought against her. To the contrary, she has had a distinguished professional career…
“With regards to her qualifications, the Sokoto-born Hajiya Aisha Abubakar has over 20 years of experience in banking and investment, rural enterprise development and microcredit administration, international development, policy analysis and business support. She specializes in micro, small and medium enterprise development, Islamic finance and microcredit administration, women development and family livelihood enhancement, as well as public policy and administration. She is the director, corporate services department of the pension transitional arrangement directorate.
“She was also the Managing Director/CEO, Abuja Enterprise Agency, between February 2014 and June 2015. She served as the acting Managing Director/CEO of the agency between February 2013 and August 2014, after she had served as the Executive Director, Finance and Administration. Within the time under review, she spearheaded the aligning off the agency’s processes and programmes to be in line with global best practices. Prior to that, she was the Principal Manager II at the African International Bank (1998 – 1999); and senior bilateral cooperation officer, African Development Bank, Abidjan, Ivory Coast (1993 – 1997), where she promoted, negotiated and administered cooperation agreements between the bank and external donors among others.
“Hajiya Aisha was educated at the University of Leeds, Leeds, England, where she obtained a Master of Arts, Development Studies (1990 – 1991); University of Warwick, Warwickshire, England, where she bagged a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Politics and International Studies (1987 – 1990). She had her secondary education at Queens College, Lagos, between 1978-1984.”
The letter was signed for Concerned Stakeholders for Good Governance by Mallam Shuaib Zakari and Chief Mazi Okeke
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