Ismail Omipidan
Controversy is gradually brewing in the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) over the decision to exclude some commissioners from benefiting from the six-month extension granted them by President Muhammadu Buhari. Already, some members of the staff of the commission are raising concern over the circumstances sorrouding the extension and the alleged exclusion of a “key commissioner” from the South West.
The current acting chairman, Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad, was first appointed into the commission in 2011, as Executive Commissioner in charge of Operations. At the expiration of his tenure and other commissioners in May 2015, he was reappointed as “Chairman(to complete 2nd term having served as ExecutiveCommissioner (Operations)for one tenure),” the letter conveying the appointment to the Senate in April 2015 stated. It was learnt that some promoters of the current chairman are impressing it on the presidency that he had just spent one term. Apparently lending credence to the report, a memo requesting the president to consider granting a blanket six-month extension to all the commissioners, signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, a copy of which was sighted by Saturday Sun, stated that “upon a review of the submission of the chairman and the timing of the submission, I should observe that it will not be practible to conclude the processes for a tenure renewal for the current team or the appointment of a new team before the expiration of their current tenure.”
The said memo, dated March 26, 2019, also requested that the president approve tenure extension for all members of the board. “Your Excellency, it is suggested that the tenure of the current chairman and members be extended by six months in acting capacity, within which period the commission must have been re-constituted, either by the current team for a second and final term or by new chairman and members,” the SGF further stated.
Following convincing arguments presented by the SGF, which included but not limited to the need to ensure there was no leadership vacuum and save 2019 hajj activities from any setback, the president was said to have given a blanket approval to the memo.