A civil society organiation, the Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM), has accused the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, of undermining President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to commence the process of appointing a substantive Accountant General of the Federation (AGF).

CPPM equally described Yemi-Esan’s failure to commence the process of appointing the AGF as “irresponsible, provocative, reckless, condemnable, unacceptable, and a threat to national security.”

The organisation made this known via a statement issued and made available to The Star on Sunday by its chairman, Nelson Ekujumi.

The CPPM stated that the HOS stalled the process of appointing a new AGF after the indefinite suspension of the former Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, noting that Yemi-Esan’s position in a memo to President Buhari on the selection of a new AGF was strange and “a perversion of civil service rules and affront to the authority of Mr. President by trying to be clever-by-half.”

It said: “We are aware that sequel to the presidential directive with regards to the appointment of a substantive Accountant General of the Federation, following the indefinite suspension of the former Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, for fraud of which he is in court to answer charges as preferred by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the HOS in a memo dated June 21, 2022, announced the commencement of the process for the appointment of a substantive AGF.

“Consequently, applications were called for from qualified accountants from the mainstream civil service in the pool of Accountant General of the Federation with set criteria for eligibility and subject to security checks. But surprisingly before the conclusion of the process in line with Presidential directive and the HOS memo, Mrs. Dr. Folasade Esan stalled the process for reasons which amounts to a violation of her oath of office and an affront to constituted authority.

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“Shockingly, with a motive, which has an interest far and above national interest written all over it, the HOS in a memo to the President dated 13th October 2022, while acknowledging Mr. President’s directive conveyed via the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation letter dated 16th June 2022, stated that … ‘At the close of submission of applications and security clearance by appropriate agencies, very negligible number of directors met the criteria. The number will not provide a large pool to engender competitive process at the end of which a substantive Accountant General of the Federation could be appointed’. She then went ahead to propose to Mr. President, the extension of the process to the first quarter of 2023 just to satisfy her personal interest and motive.

“This position of the Head of Service of the Federation is rather strange, a perversion of civil service rules and affront to the authority of Mr. President by trying to be clever-by-half. We want to ask that under what provisions of the civil service rules did Dr. Mrs. Folasade Esan derive the powers to single-handedly determine the number of applicants who have met set criteria and security clearance for appointment as neglible? Also, we need to ask that what number of applicants can be described as negligible according to the civil service rules of Dr. Mrs. Folasade Esan?”

The civil society organisation further described the action of Yemi-Esan as a contravention of the oath of her office, saying it amounts to “an abuse of official position and public trust for personal gain far and above national interest and security, which is irresponsible and condemnable.”

“We at CPPM wish to draw the attention of Mr. President who is a strong advocate for due process and rule of law to the actions of Dr. Mrs. Folasade in trying to pervert civil service rules and undermine constituted authority and national security,” it added.

The CPPM, however, called for the immediate presidential rejection of Yemi-Esan’s request for abortion of the process for the appointment of a substantive AGF and extension to “allow for her personal interest over national interest”.

It also called for disciplinary proceedings against the HOS for “perversion of civil service rules, abuse of public trust and an affront to constituted authority which is unacceptable and condemnable.”

The Star