Less than four hours after President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly sacked NIMASA’s boss Dakuku Peterside, a Muslim rights group has commended the president for replacing Peterside with a Muslim, Bashir Jamoh.
Jamon, 56, is the current executive director, Administration and Finance of the agency, and he has spent 17 years in the agency.
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) said the appointment of a Muslim to the top position occupies for decades by Christians strikes a chord.
“We are waiting for wailers and their characteristically divisive outcry against every appointment made by this administration. It is either nepotism, Islamisation or Fulanisation,” said MURIC in a statement by its executive secretary Prof. Ishaq Akintola.
Among those MURIC refers to as wailers are former President Olusegun Obasanjo, retired Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, Sokoo Diocese Archbishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Afenifere, the Ohaneze, and others.
“But they did not see Afeniferisation when Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan was appointed on Monday, 2nd March, 2020 as the new Head of Service (HOS). Yemi-Esan succeeded Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, another Christian and southerner. But the Muslims have not cried foul. Neither have the northerners screamed blue murder.”
MURIC insisted that balance has been maintained in the choice of Bashir Jamoh as the outgoing director general, Dr. Dakuku Adolphus Peterside, is a Christian and southerner while his successor, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, is a Muslim and northerner.
The group said its findings reveal that southerners had even dominated the leadership of NIMASA over the years, listing Dr. Bassey U. Ekong as the founding director-general in 1988.
“The agency has had twelve (12) director generals since inception and only two of these have been Northerners (Alhaji Munir Jaafar and Buba Galadima 1996 – 1998) while only three among the twelve have been Muslims. The rest have been non-Muslims,” the group said.
“For the records, other director generals of the agency in chronological order were John Egesi, George Mbanefo Eneh, 1999, Architect Ferdinand Agu 2000 – 2005, Engineer Festus Ugwu, Mrs. Mfon Usoro, Dr. Shamsudeen Adegboyega Dosunmu, 2007, Temisan Omatseye, Zaikede Patrick Akpobolokemi 2010 – 2015 and Dr. Dakuku Peterside (2016 – 2020). The number of Muslims who have headed NIMASA is therefore three (3) only while nine Christians have headed the agency.’
MURIC said those wailing over northernization and Islamization have only been shedding crocodile tears, misleading Nigerians and the international community.
Peterside, who was appointed by the Buhari administration in 2016, is expected to end his tenure on March 10, 2020.
Jamoh is the current President of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CiOTA), and he has a PhD transport management.