PENCOM: Senate, Presidency may clash over new DG, commissioners

From Iheanacho Nwosu, Abuja 

Frosty relations between Senate and the presidency may worsen,  following feelers that the former may reject the nomination of Alhaji Aliyu Dikko Abdulrahman as new Director-General (DG) of the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) over breach of the Pension Reform Act 2014.

Daily Sun gathered that Senate may likely vote against the appointment Abdulraham, who have been nominated to succeed former Director-General of PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, who was removed from office with Commissioners of the agency two weeks ago. The new DG’s  nomination is subject to the conformation of the Senate.

We further gathered from the Senate that most members were opposed to the flagrant violation of the PENCOM Act by the presidency in the removal and replacement of Anohu-Amazu. Sensing that it might meet a brick wall in the Senate, a source disclosed that the presidency is planning to sideline the upper legislative chamber and rely on section 171 of the constitution in handling Abdulrahman’s case.

The source said the presidency has been in a fix on how to navigate out of the challenge posed by the non adherence to the law in the termination of Anohu’s term. This, he said, led to the delay in handing disengagement letter to her.

It was not until last Friday that the disengagement letter of the outgoing DG was delivered at the Commission by 5.45pm, by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), by which time the DG had left office.

 Men of the Department of State Security (DSS) also laid siege on the headquarters, frisking and reportedly forcing staff out of the premises. The move, a security source revealed, was  to ensure no one left with any documents.

Although there are strong indications that the Senate may kick against the removal of Anohu-Amazu, presidency sources are insisting that Dikko, who is said to be related to Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, could resume without Senate’s confirmation.

Section 19(3) of the Act provides: “The Chairman, the Director-General and the Commissioners shall be appointed by the President subject to the confirmation by the Senate.”

Sources at the SGF, however, revealed that rather than rely on relevant sections of the Pension Reform Act 2014 in writing the letter of removal from office, the office relied on Section 171 of the 1999 Constitution.

It is the same provision being relied on by the presidency to insist that the appointment of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) does not need confirmation by Senate, contrary to Section 2(3) of the EFCC Act, which subjects the Chairman’s appointment to Senate confirmation.

 The source also said real reason behind the deployment of the men of the DSS to takeover the agency last Friday, was to ensure that Aliyu Dikko successfully takes over this week.

On why persons he described as ‘members of a cabal in the presidency’ would not want Dikko’s appointment subjected to Senate screening and confirmation, he said it was because “the removal from office of the outgoing DG and the commissioners as well as their replacements are in clear violation of the PRA 2014.

 “If the ousted DG and the commissioners wanted to stay put, the cabal would have had problem, as their removal did not comply with Section 20(a) – (j) of the PRA. But, in this case, both the DG and the commissioners are not interested in making any trouble or issues out of it.

“Now, the real dilemma for the cabal is the provision of Section 21(2) of PRA 2014. It provides: “In the event of a vacancy, the President shall appoint a replacement from the geo-political zone of the immediate past member that vacated office to complete the remaining tenure.” Now, Anohu-Amazu is from the South East, Anambra to be specific, while the DG designate, Aliyu Dikko, is from Kaduna State, North West,” he explained.

The source also said another challenge was that the Dikko is the Chairman and major shareholder of Premium Pension, a Pension Fund Administrator, and is, therefore, disqualified to be appointed to the Governing Board of PenCom as DG under Section 19 (5) of the PRA 2014. 

Section 19 (5)(a) provides: “The Chairman and members of the Board shall not own controlling shares in any Pension Fund Administrator or Pension Fund Custodian prior to and during their tenure of office as Chairman or members of the Board.”

He said for these reasons, Dikko’s nomination may not fly in the Senate, hence, the desperation to use security agencies to install and retain him at the helms of PenCom.

 On the alleged siege by the DSS on PenCom head office, to prevent the backdating of documents, a staff who volunteered information on the condition of anonymity, said: “It is untrue that madam did not want to hand over or that anybody wanted to backdate any document. A set of management that did not allow the trillions under its control to be tampered with, but have, instead, increased it by about N3.6 trillion, how come they would just wake up and begin to tamper with documents.

“Meanwhile, I also know she had sent PenCom protocol to the SGF’s office to wait all day for many days, but was unable to get the letter until last Friday, when they brought it by themselves. So, whom was she supposed to hand over the trillions to? 

“What feelers from the presidency showed was they were having challenges on how to see the nomination of the new DG through the contraventions of the Pension Reform Act. But let’s see how it goes.”

The outgoing leadership of PenCom raised the pension funds from N2.9 trillion to N6.5 trillion in about three years.

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