The seeming absence of due process in the current administration has again come to the fore as the offices of the Vice President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) have been fingered in wrongful disengagement of Mrs. Maryam Danna, a top shot at the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).

Mrs Danna, who was disengaged in controversial circumstances, is a Chartered Accountant from Borno State and had risen from the position of Auditor at the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) in 1992 to General Manager, Audit & Compliance at NDPHC in 2011.

The NDPHC is incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act as a private limited liability company with terms and conditions of employment and disengagement. It also has a Board which consists of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as Chairman, six Governors of the six geo-political zones in the country and four ministers, namely, those of Finance, Power, Petroleum and Justice.

Without any query, the SGF, Engr. Babachir David Lawal, who himself is enmeshed in alleged corruption practices, issued the letter conveying notification of Mrs. Danna’s disengagement as GM NDPHC with effect from 10th June, 2016 while a Special Adviser to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was appointed as acting Managing Director of the company.

Initially, the SGF had announced the dissolution of the Executive Management of NDPHC by the Federal Government and directed the Managing Director of the company to hand over to the Aide of the Vice President. He also directed all the Executive Directors to hand over immediately to the most senior officers in their respective departments.

Curiously, there are 12 other General Managers of the same status with Mrs. Danna but they were allowed to remain in their positions, obviously because they are staff of the company (like Mrs. Danna) and not members of the dissolved Executive Management.

The disengaged Chartered Accountant, who started her career in the then NEPA in 1992 as an Officer II Audit, rose through the ranks to the position of Assistant General Manger (Audit) in 2010 while in the service of Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN) before moving to the Niger Delta Holding Company where she was promoted to the rank of General Manager (Audit and Compliance) on 1st July, 2011.

It is suspected that Mrs. Danna, who is widely known as due process advocate, might have been persecuted by some persons close to powerful officials in government who might have felt aggrieved with some of her tough decisions while she was the Auditor in the office. It is gathered that the Special Adviser to the Vice-President who is appointed Acting Managing Director of the company was at one time a staff of one of the contractors to NDPHC. There is also a case of an Executive Director in NDPHC who never served did the NYSC progamme but is currently serving as a Permanent Secretary in a powerful federal ministry with supervisory powers on NDPHC.

It was gathered that one of the supervisory ministers who investigated the case of unlawful disengagement of Mrs. Danna has since written to President Muhammadu Buhari through the Chief of Staff, Abbah Kyari, for her reinstatement.

Mrs. Danna hails from Borno, a state that is not only grossly underrepresented but also where Girl-Child Education is at its lowest ebb. She struggled against all odds to reach her present status, by obtaining relevant additional professional qualifications such as certificate of membership of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (FCIT), among others.

Married with children, she was never found wanting in her 24 years of service to the country.

•Sourced from Economic Confidential.

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