Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Liberian President has condemned the suspension of the Hadiza Bala-Usman, the embattled managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
According to her, Bala-Usman has been someone she has known to be an accomplished leader and dedicated public servant.
Sirleaf, who made her feelings known in a tweet on her Twitter handle @MaEllenSirleaf, called for adherence to the rule of law, fair and equal treatment.
“I am disheartened to hear about the suspension of Nigerian Ports Authority MD @hadizabalausman, who I have known to be an accomplished leader and dedicated public servant. I urge adherence to the rule of law and fair and equal treatment as the situation evolves,” Sirleaf stated in her tweet.
Responding to her, Kolade Victor Akinjo, a serving member of the House of Representative, who said in a tweet @Akinjo, that he had the privilege to serve as a chairman of House Committee on Privatization and worked with Usman, said he was convinced the former NPA MD was a woman of courage with an eye for nobility.
He however said that he had a strong belief that Usman cannot dupe Nigeria.
“As a chairman of House Committee on Privatization at a time, I had the privilege of a brief interface with you. You evince a woman of courage and character with an eye for nobility. Am not in your party and am still a serving member. I have a strong belief that you cannot dupe Nigeria,” the tweet reads.
Recall that Usman was suspended recently as the managing director of the NPA by Chibuike Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation, an action that was said to be against civil service rules for the removal of heads of MDAs.
She was suspended on the ground that the NPA under her management failed to remit an operating surplus of N165 billion to the consolidated revenue fund account (CRF), which according to Usman was contrary to the amount NPA was supposed and had already remitted to the CRF account.
Amaechi went further to set up a panel to investigate the activities of Bala Usman on the ‘unremitted’ N165 billion claims, which recently shifted to investigating her on insubordination.
