Amaechi had me removed from NPA because I didn’t buy him birthday present – Hadiza Usman

Former managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Usman has alleged that the ex-minister of transportation Rotimi Amaechi ensured she was removed from her position because she did not give him a birthday present.

In a new book titled Stepping on Toes: My Odyssey at the Nigerian Ports Authority, Ms Usman said her former boss made sure she lost her job because she failed to lavish him with favours.

Buhari, on the recommendation of Amaechi, suspended Usman from office in May 2021 following allegation of the NPA’s non-remittance of about N165 billion operating surpluses into the consolidated revenue fund account of the federation.

Amaechi subsequently set up an administrative panel of inquiry to investigate the affairs of the NPA, including awards of contracts from 2016 to May 2021.

The investigation, which lasted about nine months, returned without proof of non-remittance, although Usman was nonetheless removed from office and replaced with Mohammed Bello-Koko.

However, in her memoir, Usman said Amaechi held personal grudges against her as revealed by people he spoke to about the matter.

She wrote, “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!”