Controversy Looms as Ex-NPA Boss Reveals Top Secret About Atiku, Ameachi in New Book "Stepping on Toes"
- Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and ex-minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi have been caught in a web of controversy
- The former Nigerian Port Authority (NPA)'s managing director, Hadiza Bala Usman, has confirmed that the duo orchestrated her dismissal
- She said her sack happened because she refused to compromise on renewing a contract belonging to a company owned by Atiku
FCT, Abuja - The former managing director of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, in her new book Stepping on Toes, revealed how her refusal to compromise to do the wrong thing cost her her job.
As reported by Daily Nigerian, the ex-NPA boss revealed that former minister of transportation Rotimi Amaechi orchestrated her dismissal for failing to extend Intel’s’ service boat management contract by one year.
Source: Facebook
Her new book was centred on her time at the NPA and how her refusal to conform to the ill norms in the civil service cost her the NPA job while still in service.
It was reported and gathered that the company that led to her dismissal belonged to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his co-partner Gabriele Volpi, an Italian Nigerian businessman who both founded the company in the 1980s.
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However, Atiku was reported to have stepped down from the company in December 2020 in a bid to join the 2023 presidential race on a clean note.
According to a Premium Times report, the ex-NPA boss had a series of disagreements with Amaechi over some of the operations at the agency at the time.
In her book, she revealed that an unnamed stakeholder in the industry had issued a warning that her services would no longer be needed by the then-minister due to some infractions as regards the renewal of some crucial contracts.
Usman said:
“At this point, it occurred to me what that stakeholder said about the minister wanting me out of office at the point that two of the most important contracts in the authority were due for renewal.
“The first of this was the capital dredging contract and the second: the service boat management contracts."
She further noted that Amaechi had demanded that she renew the companies' contracts providing the capital dredging services permits without due process.
The ex-NPA boss in her book wrote:
"He got approval for the restoration of an expired service boat contract. He got this even though the company was owing the federal government, had violated the Treasury Single Account policy, and above all, no longer had any contract with the NPA. I thought that his desperation to keep me out of office was to an end."
On why she had refused to extend the contract of Atiku's company, the ex-NPA boss disclosed that the company had been milking the country for years and also refused to comply with the presidential directive on Treasury Single Account.
APC knocks Amaechi for anti-Tinubu comment, suspends party chair amid battle with PDP
In another development, the Rivers State chapter of the APC has suspended its chairman, Emeka Beke, and its legal adviser, Iheanyichukwu Azubuike.
The duo were suspended over alleged anti-party activities and financial misconduct, while the party dissociated itself from ex-Minister Rotimi Amaechi's comment against Bola Tinubu.
The development came at a time when the party was preparing for a legal battle against the PDP in the state over the March 18 governorship election.
Source: Legit.ng
