The nomination of Aisha Umar as Director-General of National Pension Commission (PenCom) by President Muhammadu Buhari has sparked discontent among members of the Senate during Tuesday’s plenary session.
Umar will be replacing Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu as Director-General of PenCom and members have said that this contravenes Section 17 (2) of the PenCom Act that deals with tenure of office.
Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan read the letter that prompted many reactions.
Senate Minority leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe drew the attention of the Senate President to critical areas in the PenCom Act that portrayed President Buhari’s action as biased and against the Federal Character.
Abaribe argued strongly that the PenCom Director General nominee is from the North West, while Chinelo Anohu-Amazu who has not finished her tenure was from South East, insisting that the development was in flagrant breach of the Pension Commission Act.
“I recall that the tenure of the incumbent was truncated, therefore, the new letter from the President that has now moved the Chairman of the Commission to another zone may not be correct because it is against the law setting up the National Pension Commission.
“The legislation regarding Pension Commission says in the event of a vacancy the President shall appoint a new member from the appropriate zone to complete the tenure of the successor,” Abaribe said.
Lawan asked the senator to be patient while he interprets the law.
“That is for me to interpret because I interpret the laws here. If there is any petition to that effect, it should be sent to the committee,” Lawan said.
However, Abaribe urged Lawan to take note of his observations before referring the letter to the Senate’s relevant Committee on Wednesday.
