Recall won’t stop EFCC prosecution, says FG
• Lawyer sues Buhari for ‘violating’ federal character
principle
Stakeholders in the health sector, led by the Health and
Managed Care Association
of Nigeria (HMCAN), have condemned the reinstatement
of suspended Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme
(NHIS), Prof. Usman Yusuf.They accused President Muhammadu Buhari of preferring
ethnicity to competence and ignoring the report of a panel that indicted and
suspended Yusuf over an alleged N919 million fraud.
Yusuf, currently under probe by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC), was on Tuesday reinstated by Buhari in a letter to
Health Minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole.
The minister had set up the panel that indicted Yusuf because
the NHIS is under the purview of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH). Yusuf,
however, had insisted he is answerably only to Buhari.
HMCAN described the recall as shocking and disturbing,
warning that the development spells doom for the health insurance sector. It
urged Buhari to remove Yusuf from office, arguing he has no moral justification
to continue as NHIS boss.HMCAN is the umbrella body of Health Maintenance
Organisations (HMOs) in Nigeria.
In an interview with The Guardian in Abuja, the National
Publicity Secretary of the association, Lekan Ewenla, said the reinstatement
proves the current administration’s anti-graft war has failed. “It is a shock
that someone that is being investigated and that has been found culpable by the
EFCC is being reinstated without any consultation. Yusuf was interrogated by
the EFCC on Monday and Tuesday. Is there no platform for this government to
feel the pulse of the nation? The industry is doomed because if someone has
spent N1 billion and is being reinstated after suspension, it means he can do
whatever he likes,” he said.
Ewenla said the move is condemnable and inconceivable. “This
should not be happening in the health sector which is very critical. If the
president likes him so much, let him give him any other office, not NHIS
because he does not posses the technical capacity,” he said.The President of
the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Mike Ogirima, declined to comment.
“I will prefer to leave it to the politicians. What we are interested in is
that mandatory health insurance should be available for all Nigerians. Whether
it is a goat or sheep that is there, what we want is anyone that can perform
and make health insurance universal,” he said.
The President, Healthcare Providers Association of Nigeria
(HCPAN), Dr. Umar Sanda, also said: “We just heard the news today. We will wait
until things unfold. We are not going to comment because we have not got the
full details. We do not know the circumstances.”HCPAN is the umbrella body of
retainer hospitals paid by the HMOs under the NHIS.
The Guardian could not reach Prof. Adewole or any of his
aides, as their phones were switched off. Prof. Yusuf refused to pick his
calls.The phones of the President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN),
Ahmed Yakasai, were also switched off.The Association of Senior Civil Servants
of Nigeria (ASCSN) also criticised the reinstatement, saying the action
suggests the anti-graft war is selective.
In a statement, the Secretary-General, Comrade Alade Bashir
Lawal, urged Buhari to rescind the action and allow Yusuf to leave the system.
He said: “How can a government official being investigated for a whopping N919
million fraud by the EFCC be reinstated by a government that came to power
promising to sanitise the system? This is one intervention too many.”
The Federal Government, however, said the reinstatement would
not halt Yusuf’s prosecution by the EFCC.Fielding questions from State House
correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by
Buhari, yesterday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, denied
knowledge of the probe.
“I am not aware that the EFCC is investigating the recently
reinstated Executive Secretary of NHIS. But if that is the case, I don’t think
his reinstatement is a barrier to any investigation,” he said.
Asked why he claimed he was not aware the NHIS boss was under
investigation, the minister said: “I didn’t say I’m not aware of his
investigation. I said EFCC. I was precise. I said I am not aware that the EFCC
is investigating him. And if it is true, then the fact that he has been
reinstated does not mean a stop to it. That is what I said.
“I am not saying I’m not aware that he was suspended or any
investigation is going on. The fact that he has been reinstated does not mean
that the EFCC will not continue with its investigation. That is what I said.”
A rights activist and lawyer, Francis Moneke, meanwhile, has
sued Buhari and the Attorney General of the Federation for allegedly violating
the federal character principle in the appointment of key security chiefs.At a
Federal High Court in Abuja, Moneke, through his counsel, Ikenna Okoli, is
contending that the pattern of appointments shows favouritism and nepotism on
the part of the first respondent.
The applicant wants the court to declare that the people of
the South-East are bona fide citizens of Nigeria and cannot be subjected to
restrictions that exempt citizens from the North.
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