Idris, who clocked 60 years on 25th of November 2020, is frantically pulling strings in the Presidency to secure an extension of his appointment beyond the legal limit, a source told Sahara Reporters.
Amidst controversies regarding his acquisition of multi-billion naira worth of properties in his home state of Kano, Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, has launched a strong lobbying for his tenure extension.
Idris, who clocked 60 years on 25th of November 2020, is frantically pulling strings in the Presidency to secure an extension of his appointment beyond the legal limit, a source told Sahara Reporters.
The source said Idris had engaged the services of highly placed persons including governors, senators and emirs to prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to give him an extension.
The move is against the civil service rules, which states that a career civil servant must disengage from service either after attaining 60 years of age or having worked for 35 years, whichever comes first.
It is also against a recent circular from the office of the Head of Service to all agencies of the Nigerian Government which says, “For avoidance of doubt and in order to maintain discipline and integrity of the extant public service rule which prescribed 60 years of age or 35 years of service for mandatory retirement, should strictly be complied with.
“Accordingly, the following guidelines shall apply. (I) that career officers who take up tenured appointment should at the point of taking up the appointment retire from service to ensure they run their term uninterrupted.
“(II) that career officers who have not retired from service before the commencement of their tenured appointment must leave office on attainment of mandatory age/years of service for retirement and
“(iii) that career officers who are currently holding tenured appointment are required to retire from service with immediate effect and continue to run their term. Failure to do so would mean that they would vacate office on attaining the mandatory age or at the expiration of their term which ever comes first.”
However, knowledgeable sources in the OAGF and the Presidency informed Sahara Reporters that Idris was doing everything within his capacity to manipulate the extant laws and regulations to remain in office.
“He is stopping at nothing to achieve his aim, which will eventually deny others in the system their career progression. The AGF is also speculated to be aspiring to become the next governor of Kano State in 2023, and is believed to be mobilising a formidable financial war chest for that purpose,” a source said.
Sahara Reporters had earlier exposed how Idris acquired several properties whose value run into many billions of naira since being appointed by President Buhari as the administrative head of the treasury in June 2015.
A visit to Gezawa Commodity Market Limited and Gezawa Integrated Farms Limited owned by Idris lend credence to the allegations made by concerned citizens and some stakeholders on how and where the AGF got the money he used in acquiring the multi-billion naira firms, both in Kano through his direct family members.
The shareholdings of both firms indicate a spread of Idris family members on the official board.
There have also been questions asked about how the AGF bought ‘Sokoto Hotel’ in Kano with N500m cash.
Sahara Reporters gathered that Idris upon acquiring the hotel, ordered its immediate demolition with the intention to build a multi-billion naira shopping mall on the property.