Halima Shehu: Tinubu Asked To Follow Due Process In Removing Public Officers

President Bola Tinubu has been asked to follow due process in handling issues relating to the suspension or removal of public officers and political appointees confirmed by the Senate.

The Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Rafsanjani, stated this on Tuesday following the suspension of the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu.

Naija News recalls that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had earlier approved the suspension of Shehu and ordered an investigation over corruption allegations.

However, according to Rafsanjani, there is a need for strict adherence to due process in the suspension or removal of public officers and political appointees.

He argued that public officer and political appointees can only be suspended or removed if they are declared to be corrupt, incapacitated, or resign, as provided by existing laws.

Rafsanjani insisted that the government must follow proper and transparent due process on issues that warrant the suspension or removal of any appointee screened and confirmed by the Senate.

He said, “If the President appointed her and you have any cause to remove her, the Presidency should have also go through the same process of appointing and removing but if you do this as an outright thing, it would suggest that we are not a country or due process and there must be reason.

“The Constitution is very clear on how to remove a public official. If the person is not corrupt and there is no evidence of corruption if the person is not incapacitated and there is no evidence of the person being incapacitated, or if the person has not willingly resigned, I think those are the key issues that our constitution always look at, on how to remove or suspend public officials.

“But you cannot just wake up and suspend somebody just like that. I think the question of security tenure, the question of ensuring that in the first place, you find public officials who are competent, who are qualified, who are not corrupt, is the major reason why we are emphasising that government at all levels must shop for quality and those who have no deficiency in terms of their capacity and intellectual experience in the work that they are assigned to do.”