Chairman
of the National Assembly Service Commission has defied the President of
the Senate Bukola Saraki by rejecting his directive.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki
The National Assembly Service Commission says there is no basis for
withdrawing the appointment of the newly appointed Acting Clerk of the
National Assembly (NASS), Alhaji Mohammed Sani-Omolori.
Dr Adamu Fika, the Executive Chairman of the commission, said this
in a letter he sent to the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki,
and copied to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu
Dogara, on Tuesday.
Fika said that the decision to appoint Sani-Omolori as acting Clerk
instead of the current Deputy Clerk was because he would himself
proceed on Terminal leave on Aug. 2.
He added that the date on which Mr Efeturi would proceed on
terminal leave was just 12 days before the current Clerk, Mr Salisu
Maikasuwa, would hand over to his successor.
“This means that Mr Efeturi is time barred for the acting
appointment hence the choice of Mr Sani-Omolori to act and ensure
continuity in that very important Public Service office.
“In arriving at the Commission’s decision, the Chairman did not
use his casting vote, because eleven Commissioners were in support
while only one who voted no,” he said.
He clarified that the denial of Efeturi the position of acting
Clerk was not due to the allegation that he (Efeturi) was not duely
appointed as Deputy Clerk as contained in Saraki’s letter.
On the issue of seniority, he noted that the duo were both
appointed acting clerk on the same day, Feb. 4, 2010, and on March 25,
they were also appointed Substantive Clerks.
However, he added that Omolori was made a Director on Jan. 1, 2007,
one year earlier than Efeturi who was made a Director on Jan. 1, 2008.
“It should be noted that in the Nigeria public service,
seniority is determined at the time of consideration for promotion and
career progression chart leading to it.
“Seniority has never and is never decided by the date of
appointment to the service nor date of retirement from service or indeed
the number of years spent in the
service.
“From the above analysis, denying Mr Mohammed Sani-Omolori
appointment as Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly in 2014 was
improper being that he was senior to Mr Benedict Efeturi.
“With the above explanations, the issue of misleading and
misinforming your good self and the Honourable Speaker of the House of
Representatives does not arise.
“The Commission properly evaluated the two officers and took
into account their service records as a determining factor for the
appointment of Acting Clerk to the National Assembly.
“In light of all the foregoing, Your Excellency will agree that
reversing the decision of the Commission appointing Mr Mohammed
Sani-Omolori as the Acting Clerk to the National Assembly cannot be
tenable in the circumstances,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the President of the
Senate through his Chief of Staff had directed the withdrawal of the
appointment of the Acting Clerk of NASS.
0 comments:
Post a Comment