By Chris Udochukwu
Abuja (Precise Post) – The House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs has dismissed a petition written against the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Gabriel Aduda in which Aduda was alleged to been involved in corrupt practices, ineptitude, Personal enrichment and serial acts of administrative malfeasance.
The 12-page petition which was written by ‘faceless’ persons had accused Aduda and two ministers from the ministry, amongst other things, of involvement in official misconduct that included the abduction of children by an unnamed Deputy ambassador of the ministry.
The petition titled ‘Non-paper: a quest For Personal Enrichment, Instituitionalisation of Corruption; Ineptitude, Serial Acts of Administrative Malfeasance and the Degradation of the Nigerian Foreign Service By Gabriel Aduda, another Passionate appeal by Mr. President called for the sack of the Permanent Secretary.
Having received the petition, the House committee expressed concerned that the petition which was already in the public space had the tendency to dent the image of Nigeria’s foreign service, invited Gabriel Aduda for questioning and found that the faceless petition was raised by persons who were using the guise of a pressure group to fight the institutional reforms embarked upon by the Buhari-led administration.
The committee in its findings unearthed the fact that the aim of the faceless authors of the petition was to malign the characters of those they had singled out as perceived enemies who were bent on ending the age-long malfeasance that was championed by the faceless and un-authored petition.
The committee found out also that the authors of the petition rather than raise concerns about the well-being and development of the foreign ministry and foreign services, went straight to attack personalities and leadership of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the nation at large showing little concern about the interests of the nation.
Furthermore, the committee observed that the Permanent secretary resumed work in January 2021 following his redeployment from the Ministry of Youths and Sports, while the faceless petition writers consistently mentioned the years, 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively.
The petition which had the capability to tarnish the image of the Nigerian foreign service at a time when the whole world has their gaze fixed on Nigeria was vehemently opposed by the House committee, which warned that such frivolous and faceless petition should be discouraged in future as it could have its damaging consequences.
The committee has also directed security agencies to fish-out the authors of the petition for raisng false allegations against the ministry and an institution that is the first point of contact with foreign partners and multinationals who may be interested in dealing with Nigeria in whatever capacity.
