By Olajide Meseko
A former senator, Binta Garba, has accused a former managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority of masterminding her removal from the board of the authority.
She said, “I was appointed into the board of the Nigerian Ports Authority sometime in March 2020. In January 2021, Sen. John Akpanudoedehe and I were removed from the board and our removal was clearly orchestrated by the now-suspended MD of NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman.
“Before my removal, I was not comfortable with the way the board and authority were run. I consistently expressed my discomfort and displeasure with the way the MD was running the place and this, I have no iota of doubt in my mind, made her orchestrate my removal from the board.
“I was removed without the knowledge of the supervising ministry/Minister of Transportation, which was very uncommon.
“My observations and complaints with the suspended NPA MD were more with the financial statements of NPA and I worried that if she continued so, there would certainly be trouble and her sudden removal (suspension) would be inevitable.
“I noted discrepancies, I raised observations. I asked questions but I was completely ignored and disregarded. Answers were never provided until my removal was plotted.
“When the board came in, its first meeting was in June 2020 with the aim of deliberating on the financial report. I made some observations on the report which, obviously, the MD, Hadiza Bala Usman, was not comfortable with.”