Indications have emerged as to how President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘lone ranger’ approach to his one-month old administration caused confusion at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Professor Attahiru Jega, whose tenure as INEC Chairman came to an end on Tuesday, June 30, 2015 had earlier handed over to Mohammed Wali, a National Electoral Commissioner who is supposed to retire on Tuesday, August 11, 2015.
In a twist of events, President Buhari later appointed Amina Bala Zakari as the first female INEC Chairperson hours after Wali’s appointment.
According to investigations, Jega had initially written a letter to President Buhari asking him to appoint his successor before his tenure elapses, a request that was not attended to.
Jega, upon leaving office decided to hand over to Wali since President Buhari had not shortlisted his successor, only for Wali’s tenure to be ended few hour later.
Sources at the Presidency have expressed fears that President Buhari’ style of keeping decisions pertaining to national issues to himself might bring more harm than good.
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A source at the presidency who spoke under the condition of anonymity said: “The President’s style is not ideal for a democratic government. If this was a military regime, there would be no problems.
“Mr. President is a democratically elected leader and as such he should act in like manner. There’s a lot of in-fighting going on at several government parastatals as no appointment has been announced.
“Adesina (President Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity) said Permanent Secretaries of Ministries are in charge of affairs at various ministries, but that is not enough. If it were to be enough, then we would not need any ministers in future.”
