FULL TEXT: HUMAN RIGHTS MONITOR PETITION TO SARAKI OVER PLOTS TO THWART THE NOMINATION OF…

Ads

His Excellency,

Ads

Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki,

Senate President,

Ads

Ads

Federal Republic of Nigeria,

Aso Rock Villa

Abuja.

Dear Sir,

PETITION AGAINST PLOTS TO THWART THE NOMINATION OF DR. MUIZ BANIRE AS AMCON CHAIR

We write this petition to you at the instance of a plot currently ongoing at the Red Chamber where a ceaseless war is being waged against the nomination of the person of Dr. Muiz Banire to the chair of the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) surprisingly by persons within your party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

We see this move by the concerned persons as desperate attempts to subject and subjugate the legitimate aspirations of party stalwarts and members of the APC to the whims and caprices of an individual – a phenomenon you are well aware of, and against which you have fought relentless in your rise to the exalted position of the Senate President.

For the record Sir, we are a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) dedicated to the promotion and defense of human rights across all strata of society, and our track records and engagements speak for us. Being non-partisan, HURMA expects nothing from any player in the Nigerian polity in terms of personal or group gains except the delivery of the dividends of democracy which can only come with the proper and prudent utilization of the nation’s resources and which can only be guaranteed by the selection of the best hands for certain national assignments of which your office plays the critical role of confirmation.

Sir, as the President of the legislative arm of government charged with the protection and sustenance of our democracy under which individual aspirations have the liberty of legitimate expression, we repose our confidence in you afresh to rise to this mushrooming at your Chamber aimed at denying not only the person of Dr. Muiz Banire a well-deserved appointment, but also of robbing Nigerians the opportunity of being served by an individual with the requisite capacity all because of the disagreement of a self-styled godfather.

Having followed your dogged fight against unproductive godfatherism in your political career, we are certain of your acquaintance with the destructive tendency of subverting internal democracy and reducing the party to the sole property and privilege of an individual. We therefore implore you not to allow this plot to succeed as it is dire for the political health of the APC and the nation in general.

For the records, Dr. Banire is an achiever and a dogged public officer who prioritizes public interest over and above personal cravings. As a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Banire is another capacity waiting to strengthen the APC in delivering on its electoral promises. The sacrifice of meritocracy at the altar of narrow and parochial considerations which has bedeviled our politics for long must come to an end; and this for your person and office is a litmus test and a reference for the future.

We are also concerned that the true idea of party supremacy which the new National Chairman of the party is bringing to the table could be dead on arrival if for upward mobility by any of the party’s stalwart and members the ego of just an individual must be appeased at all time. While we recognize the roles that certain individuals must have played in putting together the winning team that APC has become, we warn that caution must be exercised when dealing with the internal affairs of the party so that internal democracy upon which rests the strength of any party would be preserved as Dr. Banire has been on sufferance to echo.

We therefore implore you Sir, to be vigilant to any attempt hidden or manifest, direct or sponsored aimed at scuttling Dr. Muiz Banire’s appointment as deemed fit and forwarded to you by the President, Muhammadu Buhari.

We count on your leadership to once again rally the Senate to resist this surreptitious undermining of the rights and privileges of the Senate to have credible Nigerians appointed into areas of critical importance of our national life.

We thank you Sir for the audience

Yours faithfully,

Comrade Buna Olaitan Isiak

Executive Director

Human Rights Monitoring Agenda (HURMA)