Reason Buhari Appointed Okadigbo As NNPC Board Chairman Emerges

The reason behind President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to appoint Margery Okadigbo as the Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has emerged.

Naija News reports that President Buhari had dropped Senator Ifeanyi Ararume as the NNPC board chairman and replaced him with the wife of the late ex-Senate President, Chuba Okadigbo.

In a piece on Friday, titled, ‘PMB: Kind to the living and the dead’, presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina suggested Buhari gave Okadigbo’s widow the job in order to compensate the family and repay the kindness shown to him by her husband.

Adesina recalled that in 2003, Buhari ran with Okadigbo as his vice-presidential candidate but lost the election to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, adding that they both contested the election in court.

The presidential spokesman added that Okadigbo died in September of that year, prompting Buhari to appoint his widow as the NNPC board chairman 19 years later.

He said: “In his first outing in 2003, Buhari ran with the former Senate President, Dr Chuba Okadigbo, as vice-presidential candidate. They both challenged the result of the election and were determined to get justice. But in September of that year, Okadigbo died. Very painful.

“Now, 19 years later, who has Buhari made Chairman of the NNPC Ltd Board? Margery, Okadigbo’s widow.

“The appointment of Okadigbo’s widow confirms what some of us had always known. Muhammadu Buhari never forgets a good turn. He repays every kindness, every justice done to him, as much as it lies in his power.

“When you show kindness to the living, it is a good thing, something to applaud. But when you go further to do the same to the dead, it is something that places you on a very high pedestal; a man to be emulated, acclaimed, a blessed of the Lord.”