- By Halimah Olamide
A former Chairman of the Nigerian Port Authority, Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman has dropped a bombshell alleging that former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, orchestrated her removal from office because she did not give him a birthday present. Among other accusations which included selfishness, she said that all entreaties to the former Minister to let her stay in office proved abortive as Amaechi stood his ground on her removal. These are some of the revelations in her book, Stepping on Toes which she released on Tuesday.
According to Bala-Usman, her refusal to approve the payment of a sum of $22 million for the dredging of Calabar Channel and the renewal of the INTELS Boat Service contracts were some of the issues that made interested parties conspire to relieve her of her assignment.
In the new book titled “Stepping on Toes: My Odyssey at the Nigerian Ports Authority,” Bala-Usman, “Interest groups and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) also tried to intervene. I know, for instance, that Governors elected on the platform of the APC, chaired by Governor Atiku Bagudu, deliberated on the issue of my suspension and constituted a committee to intervene,” the former NPA chief wrote in the book.
“The Governors’ team met the Minister to discuss a resolution of the matter. He insisted that my management of the NPA had to be investigated because of the amount unremitted to the CFR (Consolidated Federation Revenue). He even tried to sway the governors’ resolve by suggesting to them that the budget of the NPA was bigger than most of their state budgets, so they shouldn’t bother about me.
“When the governors persisted, he told them that the matter was no longer within his purview and that they may need to approach the Head of Service of the Federation.
“He told another person who tried to intervene that I was so so selfish that I did nothing for him from the NPA, and never even gave him a birthday present!” Recall that Bala-Usman was removed in February 2022. She revealed further in her book that governors who sought to ensure her return to office were told not to border about her citing the size of the budget of the NPA as bigger than those of their respective states. She also revealed that Amaechi accused her of an effrontery to be corresponding with the President directly without recourse to her.
As at the time of filing this report, there was no reaction from Amaechi. Calls placed to the telephone line of his media aide, David Iyofor, were not picked. A short message sent to him requesting for a response from the former minister was not yet replied as at the time of filing this report.
However, a source close to Amaechi, who pleaded not to be named said the former Minister’s lawyers have advised him not to say anything on the matter until he sees the book and the content is fully digested. “Have you yourself seen the book and what it looks like? If you have seen the book, send me its cover. The point is that the book has not been seen and how does the Minister respond to allegations made in a book that we have not seen? Hadiza is known for bogus lies and so when we see the book the former Minister will then know what to say. If he responds to these few ones, what else do you know he has written in the book that are more damaging? Let’s wait for the book,” the close source told the NPO Reports