The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
– Factional divide? –
Kachikwu was given a dual appointment in 2015 as minister of state and NNPC’s group managing director in the declared aim of making the company’s business less murky and corrupt.
At the time, investors in the oil sector cheered his appointment as a potential sign of changing times.
Today, though, suspicions are deepening of a factionalist divide within the government along regional lines, and of little appetite to cleanse the NNPC of the taint of corruption.
Baru, said a Nigerian financial analyst specialising in the oil sector, is part of an old guard from northern Nigeria, Buhari’s own home, and through his long career at NNPC had built a network of political contacts.
The 58-year-old was named in 2016 “just because he was from the north,” the analyst said. “Buhari has a northern agenda, you can’t rule that out.”
Jonathan’s party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which is now in opposition, on Thursday called for Baru to be suspended, adding that a “loud silence” weighed on Buhari for the implications of sleaze hanging over the NNPC.
Kachikwu met with Buhari on Friday, offering only a terse “no comment” after the talks.
“I don’t think Kachikwu will be fired, it would be a very bad move for the investors, but he might not be part of the government after the 2018 cabinet reshuffle,” said the analyst, who requested anonymity in order to be able to speak freely.
“We are still sitting on the same corrupt system that existed before Buhari came into power,” the analyst said. “Nothing has changed.”
