Despite being on suspension for the past eight months as ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2021, suspended Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, on Friday informally met with the President.
Although Bala-Usman might have met with President Buhari previously behind-closed-door and off the cameras, this Fridays meeting was the first time the duo will be seen together in public since the suspension was pronounced.
Recall that Bala-Usman was suspended in May 2021 by the Federal Government, as part of moves to ‘allow an independent audit of the accounts and remittances of the agency’ under her watch. She was accused of breaches contravening governments financial regulations regarding under-remittances by the NPA during that period. In her place, Mohammed Bello Koko was appointed to head the agency in an acting capacity since then.
The panel, set up by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi to investigate alleged infractions by the suspended NPA MD is yet to submit its findings, a development which suggested that Bala-Usman may not return to her seat.
However, during the Presidents courtesy visit to the Emir of Zazzau, HRH Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, in Zaria, Kaduna State, as part of his two-day working visit to the State on Friday, the suspended MD was seen having a chat with the President in one of the photographs sent out by the Presidential Villa media handlers.
Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufa’i, and his deputy, Hadiza Balarabe, were also seen in the photograph standing close to the Bala-Usman and President Buhari.
