How did Atiku Abubakar leave the Nigerian Customs, Sacked or Retired? – READ INSIDE STORY

This is the story of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar and the circumstances that prompted him to leave the Nigerian Customs and Excise after many years of service.

Fortuitous entrance into Customs

According to the 338-page book was written and published in 2006 by the late Adinoyi Onukaba, who at the time was Atiku Abubakar’s Senior Special Assistant on Media.

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It was the period of the Nigerian civil war which broke out in 1967 as an immediate consequence of the first military coup of January 15, 1966, that sacked the Nigerian First Republic and the counter-coup that followed six months later.

“As the war raged on, some radical university students did not feel comfortable with the general indifference of Nigerian students to the unfolding tragedy in the country,” Mr Onukaba stated in the book.

“They began to mobilise their colleagues in support of the war to keep Nigeria one. There were demonstrations by students in support of the Federal Government. From Zaria, Atiku and other students marched to Kaduna to demonstrate against French support for Biafra. Twice they were arrested and detained briefly by the police.

 “One day after participating in a protest in front of the French Consulate in Kaduna, Atiku marched off to the headquarters of the First Division of the Nigerian Army in Kaduna to sign up for the war. He told the recruiting officers to take him, that he was ready to go to the war front to fight. The officers took a long look at him and then dismissed him: ‘We are looking for school certificate holders and not undergraduates.’

“Atiku, frustrated and disappointed, headed back to Zaria.

“Before completing his diploma in Law programme in June 1969, a team from the Federal Civil Service Commission came on a recruitment drive to the university. The departure of Ibo from the Federal Civil Service and federal agencies and parastatals had left many vacancies. The team was touring Nigerian universities to interview graduating students interested in filling up such vacant positions.

“Atiku attended the interview. By chance one of the interviewers found in his file a report that he had been found suitable to join the police force and had in fact received some training in 1966. This information was brought to the attention of the chairman of the interview panel who promptly ruled: ‘O.k., you go to the Department of Customs and Excise.’

“That was how Atiku joined the Customs in June 1966.”

Bitter Disappointment

Fast-forward to 18 years later in 1987 and Mr Abubakar was appointed Deputy Director of Customs and Excise in charge of Enforcement and Drugs.

As one of the six deputy directors, he was in the line of succession to the post of Director, as the head of the agency was then known. The incumbent, Abubakar Musa, was his friend but their relationship was no longer cordial.

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“Despite having played a role in Musa’s appointment by lobbying two key ministers (in the Second Republic), Ali Baba and Abubakar Iro Dan Musa, Atiku felt that as Director of Customs Musa surrounded himself with people who were telling him that he (Atiku) was after his job.

“For eight years Atiku was kept on one rank – Assistant Comptroller. He was disappointed that his friend could allow people to come in between them and destroy a relationship of many years. It was only after Musa was retired that Atiku was able to move up.

“He was promoted thrice – from Assistant Comptroller to Deputy Comptroller, Comptroller and Deputy Director – on the same day by the then Minister of Internal Affairs, Brigadier John Shagaya, who oversaw Customs following the removal of Customs from the Federal Ministry of Finance.

“In the unending reorganisation of the Department by successive governments, the Customs, Immigration and Prison Service Board (CIPB) was established with the Minister of Internal Affairs as Chairman. The Board was responsible for appointment, promotion and disciplining of Customs staff.

“In February 1988, the post of Director of Customs was moved from Level 16 to 17 while the six Deputy Directors were moved from Level 15 to 16. In addition, 18 Assistant Director positions were created on Level 15 and six zonal commands were set up as part of the decentralization of the service, which was aimed at facilitating quick decision-making.”

Mr Abubakar hoped to be appointed Director after Mr Musa retired from service and Mr Shagaya recommended him for the appointment to the then military president, Ibrahim Babangida.

His father-in-law, Aliyu Musdafa who was then the Lamido of Adamawa, also put in a word for him following which Mr Babangida assured the traditional ruler that he would do it.

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“High profile appointments, such as Director of Customs and Excise, are political. Merit counts but political connection counts more. Atiku knew he had to lobby the right people and drop hints at the right places that he was available to lead the Customs,” Mr Onukaba wrote.

Mr Abubakar was confident of bagging the appointment, more so too that he counted the military president among his friends.

“Atiku had known Babangida since 1974 when he was just a Major. They met at a party in Lagos, and became good friends. In 1982 when Babangida, then a Major-General, imported a BMW car into the country, it was his friend, Atiku, who helped him to clear it from the Lagos ports. Babangida was not the only top military officer or prominent civil servant that Atiku had assisted.”

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Mr Abubakar narrated to the author:

“They would import cars and come and hand over the documents to me. I paid duties on those cars from my own pocket. What could I do? They were all my friends and they did not want to go through the hassles at the ports. Being the man on the ground, they wanted me to do that for them. I enjoy helping people.”

According to Mr Onukaba, “Since taking over power in 1985, Atiku had not asked him (Mr Babangida) for anything. The only matter before him was Shagaya’s recommendation for him (Atiku) to be appointed Director of Customs. It was a position for which he felt he was eminently qualified. He thought Babangida would not hesitate to give it to him.

“Indeed, Babangida approved Shagaya’s recommendation. But before it could be made public, a group of eminent Gongola State (the state was later broken into the current Adamawa and Taraba states) indigenes in his government pleaded with the President to drop Atiku.

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“They said there were already too many functionaries of the administration from the state. If Atiku were appointed, they said, other states would protest the preponderance of Gongola State people in top government positions.

“At the time, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Gambo-Jimeta, the Chief of Air Staff, Ibrahim Alfa, and the Minister of Education, Jubril Aminu, were the most visible members of the government from the state. Murtala Nyako, then a Vice Admiral, was hoping to be made the Chief of Naval Staff. He might have also felt that giving the Customs top job to Atiku could affect his chances.

“Some people considered Atiku already too powerful and uncontrollable in the state and they felt that making him the Director of Customs would give him too much clout. Atiku was seen as an upstart, a boy from nowhere who was already threatening those who saw themselves as the power brokers in Gongola State.’ They did not want somebody outside their circle to rise,’ was how an observer put it in an interview.

“Babangida yielded to pressure from those people and appointed an outsider, Dr Bello Haliru Mohammed, as Director.“

Mr Mohammed would later become National Chairman of the PDP.

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“Naturally, Atiku was disappointed. From that period, Atiku said he could not trust Babangida again. He felt Babangida was not firm and reliable. It was not the first time that Babangida had disappointed both Atiku and the Lamido of Adamawa.”

Mr Abubakar found working under his new boss, Mr Mohammed, “most frustrating.”

According to the book,

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“Mohammed was not comfortable with having around him someone who had competed with him for the same position. He felt he could never trust Atiku and that Atiku would not be loyal and committed to his success in the job. He wanted Atiku gone.

“Thrice he recommended him for retirement, but thrice Shagaya turned it down. Atiku went to see Shagaya and told him that he would like to leave service voluntarily because he did not want to be disgraced out of office. Shagaya advised him not to quit. Atiku had at least 10 more years to go in the service and Shagaya felt he could still head the agency before his retirement.

“But Atiku’s soul was no longer in the Customs. He needed to move on. He had always wanted to work for himself anyway. He asked for his annual leave and it was approved. He left for the lesser hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

“Before his departure, Atiku had written his resignation letter (dated April 28, 1989), put it in an envelope, sealed and given it to his friend, Adamu Yaro, to hand it personally to Bello Mohammed, his boss.”

“He enclosed in the letter the receipt of the payment into government treasury of his three months’ salary in lieu of notice.

“Atiku had by then packed out of his Reeve Road official flat in Ikoyi and moved into a spacious, furnished guesthouse owned by NICOTES (his oil services company) on Bourdillon Road in Ikoyi.”

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He had established Nigeria Container Services (NICOTES) with an Italian friend, Gabrielle Volpi in 1982 while serving as Customs Area Administrator at the Apapa Ports.

The company was later renamed INTELS after it was seized by the regime of late Head of State, Sani Abacha. The new name was retained after the company was returned to the original owners after the death of Mr Abacha.

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“One of those Atiku consulted about his planned resignation was his old friend from Apapa Ports, Oyewole Fashawe. He visited Fashawe at Owo, his hometown. Like most of his friends, Fashawe advised him not to rush out of Customs until he had served as Director. But Mrs Lydia Ijamolayemi, Fashawe’s mother, had a different opinion. She advised Atiku to leave the Customs and embark on the journey God has destined for him.

Culled from Premium Times