•Security chiefs ordered to take personal charge of security in Jos
Less than a week after the Governors’ Forum ostensibly laid down the ground rules for a limited exercise of presidential powers for the acting president, Goodluck Jonathan on Monday in a bold move left no doubt of his readiness to wield full powers.
Sarki Muhktar, the national security adviser (NSA) to the president, who is believed to have played a pivotal role in the intrigues surrounding President Umaru Yar’Adua’s health has been removed by the acting president. Mohammed Aliyu Gusau, who held the post under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, is back to his former job.
Jonathan’s response to fears that his powers may have been curtailed by the combined manoeuvre of the governors, the PDP leadership and a section of ministers that had audaciously told him not to tinker with the Federal Executive Council came after the inaugural meeting of the National Security Council meeting yesterday presided over by Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
A statement by Ima Niboro, senior special adviser on media and publicity, gave no reason for the removal of the NSA.
The three paragraph statement read: “The Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has appointed Aliyu Gusau as NSA. He replaces Mukhtar, retired major general and one time governor of Kaduna and Katsina states.
“Jonathan thanked the outgoing NSA for his service to the nation and the present administration, and wished him well in his future endeavours,” the statement said.
Though no official reason was given for his removal, inside sources said it may not be unconnected with his role during the return under cover of darkness of President Yar’Adua to the country when the entire leadership machinery was caught unawares. The breach of the peace in Jos when armed marauders breached a seeming security alert to wreack havoc on defenceless villagers is also believed to have sealed Muhktar’s fate.
“He was very cardinal to the happenings in the corridors of power and leaving him under the present dispensation would amount to inhibiting the ability of Jonathan to perform his work creditably,” a security official familiar with the power play in the presidency told BusinessDay Monday night.
Gusau, a retired general remains a powerful kingmaker in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Gusau was the main contender alongside Yar’Adua to be the PDP presidential candidate in 2007 elections, coming second in the primaries. He had been seen as a potential presidential candidate in elections due by April next year.
Meanwhile, the council has ordered all the security chiefs to thoroughly investigate the circumstances that led to the renewed violence in Jos, Plateau State that claimed the lives of over 500 people last Sunday.
The meeting, it was learnt, extensively discussed the Jos crisis and the acting president was said to have apportioned blames to some of the security chiefs present at the meeting for their inability to nip the crisis in the bud.
The source stated that they have however been ordered by Jonathan to go to Jos and personally take charge of the security in troubled spots with a view to stemming the spread of the crisis.
Reacting to Jonathan’s action, Olisa Agbokoba (SAN) said: “I want good governance, good roads, electricity, jobs, not politics in Abuja. Nigerians are not interested in personalities. By God’s grace I have two generators, what of those who don’t have, how does Muktar’s sacking affect them?”
To Remi Aiyede, senior lecturer in political science, University of Lagos, the first and most important role of the state is security of lives and property. “Any state that fails in this responsibility cannot be regarded as an effective state. What happened in Jos was not only avoidable but preventable.
“From reports, there were intelligence reports that the attack was going to happen and nothing was done and in one night, over 500 people were murdered in one small village. No president can take that from an NSA.
Also there was unauthorized deployment of 300 soldiers in the dead of night when Yar’Adua was brought back to the country from Saudi Arabia. If you have an NSA who allows things like that to happen, there is need for change. For the acting president to exercise control, he needs to make changes within the security apparatus. In fact, he should have been done this earlier.”