Group accuses SGF Mustapha of usurping powers of ministers, urges Buhari to call him to order

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha has been accused of usurping the statutory powers of the cabinet ministers for pecuniary reasons.

The allegation was levelled against the SGF by a coalition of 21 civil society stakeholders drawn from National Power Sector Stakeholders’ Forum.

The group has therefore, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call Mustapha to order for the alleged undue thirst for power.

In an urgent meeting online, the coalition also accused the SGF of being desperate, adding, that his alleged vexatious actions could derail the vision and erode the legacy of the Buhari’s government.

After the meeting, the group released a communique signed by its national coordinator, Mr Musa Dawop.

In the communique, the group urged Buhari to investigate the special interest of the SGF in the power ministry.

It said that many stakeholders were aware that since the sack of the former Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the SGF had been working round the clock to bring him back.

The group said the alleged efforts by the SGF to bring the sacked director back remained “desperate, suspicious, vexations, counterproductive and unbecoming of someone occupying such a sensitive office.”

They expressed surprise that recently some ministers reorganised their ministries by obtaining approvals directly from the president without any uproar and wondered what suggested that the interest of Mr Boss Mustapha has in the Ministry of Power is likely to be more than meets the eye.

“That the fingerprints of the SGF are everywhere in TCN is sufficiently worrisome yet the fact remains that the sacked Managing Director(who is said to be his relative) had constituted himself as a stumbling block to the reform agenda of the President,” the group said.

The coalition went further to say that they knew that the approval for the sack of Mr Usman Mohammed was granted by the President and duly conveyed to the Minister of Power through the Chief of Staff.

They said they were begining to sense that the SGF’s fresh moves could mean nothing but efforts to upturn a Presidential approval.

Wondering where the SGF might have obtained the powers that he was trying to exercise, the group also referred to a recent memo from the SGF, were he allegedly attempted to stop ministers from removing heads of public agencies.

They said the SGF’s action was a clear overreach.

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The group added, “For the avoidance of doubt, the role of the SGF is mainly advisory and policy coordination. So far, beyond delegated duties, there are more than ten agencies directly domiciled under the alleged supervision of the SGF and where he can exercise his power as he so wishes”.

The group specifically, accused the SGF sponsoring the protest that took place in Abuja after the removal of the MD of TCN and described the effort as diversionary.

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