Buhari’s Illness: Crisis Brews At NARICT As Acting DG Refuses To Handover To Successor

From Tom Garba, Yola
It appears that the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari from the country as a result of ill-health is causing unintended and unforeseeable consequences at the Nigeria Chemical and Research Institute (NARICT), Zaria where the Acting Director-General (DG) NARICT, Prof. Mohammed Yakubu, is currently engaged in a leadership faceoff with President Buhari’s new choice to head NARICT, Prof. Jef. T. Barminas.
The Dream Daily learnt that Prof. Yakubu has refused to handover to Prof. Barminas, insisting that he (Prof. Kabir) remains acting DG of NARICT. Prof. Kabir became acting DG after a Prof. Idris M. Bugaje finished his five-year tenure as DG of NARICT last year.
Sources said that a mild drama played out when the newly appointed DG went to the Zaria headquarters of NARICT to take over from Prof. Yakubu but met the shock of his life as the outgoing DG refused to hand over to him.
While some sources said Prof. Yakubu’s refusal to hand over to the new DG was based on his claims that the Presidency has no powers to sack him from office, other sources claim that the outgoing DG is wary of handing over to Prof. Barminas, who reportedly has a reputation for due process. Threats are reportedly being made on Prof Barmina’s life to stave him off NARICT even as the Kaduna Police Commissioner has reportedly visited NARICT over threats to public peace in the institute as a result of President Buhari’s news choice for DG.
Prof. Barminas was appointed as the new DG by President Buhari in a letter signed by the Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF)). He was expected to resume duty on April 10, 2017.
Meanwhile, the Adamawa Youth Awareness Forum has called on the Director General of State Service (DSS) to wade into the power tussle at NARICT.
The Forum made the appeal during a press briefing in Yola. The chairman of the Forum Yakubu Jibrilla said “the same measure applied to the former DG of Pencom by the DSS when she refuse to handover to the incoming DG should also apply here, President Buhari should not be seen as anti-Christian as speculated in some quarters. The youth frown at the impunity been carried out by Prof. Mohammed Yakubu; he is acting on a script. We are also calling on the Acting President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to wade into the matter.”