Stakeholders from the North-West, under the aegis of the North-West Progressives Ambassadors, NWPA, have appealed to President Bola Tinubu to reconsider the appointment of Mr Yazid Danfulani as Executive Secretary of the Solid Minerals Development Fund/Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Initiative, SMDF/PAGMI.
Newspot reports that the President had initially, on December 6, 2023, announced Danfulani’s appointment as the Executive Secretary of the SMDF/PAGMI.
A statement by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said Danfulani, who once worked at the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and was also a Commissioner for Commerce and Industry in Zamfara State, is to take over the affairs of the agency with immediate effect.
However, hours after the announcement was made, Tinubu cancelled Danfulani’s appointment.
Another statement released by Onanuga noted that Danfulani’s appointment was cancelled as “there is no vacancy in the agency”.
The second statement announced that Fatima Shinkafi has been returned as the Executive Secretary of the SMDF/PAGMI.
Shinkafi was first appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
It was gathered that jubilation in Zamfara State over Danfulani’s appointment quickly turned into disappointment upon reports of the reversal.
But stakeholders in Zamfara State have been calling on Tinubu to recall Danfulani as executive secretary of the agency.
The North-West Progressives Ambassadors, NWPA, in a statement jointly signed by Comrade Aminu Galadanci, the President, and Hajia Aishat Mohammed, the Secretary General, on Wednesday, urged Tinubu to allow Danfulani to resume in line with the earlier announcement of his appointment.
The NWPA stressed that the appointment given to Danfulani was carried out in line with the President’s reward strategy to give back to those who worked for the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the last election.
According to the North-West group, Danfulani played a major role in Tinubu’s election in the 2023 poll.
The stakeholders added that the appointment would give Danfulani the opportunity to contribute to national development.
“The youths in the North-West are appealing to the President to allow Danfulani to resume work at the office as Executive Secretary.
“Mr. President, like we all know, is not only desirous of providing good governance, but it is equally important that people with the capacity to stand for Mr. President as his eyes are given sensitive positions that will add value to the citizens.”
Faulting the explanation that “there is no vacancy in the agency”, which was the reason given for the reversal of Danfulani’s appointment, the group noted that Fatima Shinkafi, the current occupant of the office, had occupied the position for more than eight years and had not added any value to the lives of people in the North-West.
“She has not also understood the Renewed Hope Agenda policies of the current administration,” the group stated.
The Arewa Youth Development Ambassadors, AYDA, and the Zamfara APC Youth Vanguard, had earlier kicked against the cancellation of Danfulani’s appointment.
The AYDA, speaking through its leader, Abubakar Abubakar, stressed that the development amounted to sabotaging the efforts of those who worked for Tinubu’s election.
On its part, the Zamfara APC Youth Vanguard urged Tinubu to “graciously reconsider and review the mix-up in the appointment of Yazid Danfulani and Hajia Fatima Umaru-Shinkafi as executive secretary of SMDF/PAGMI on the same day”.
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