Jonathan removes SURE-P chair Agwai

He was replaced by Mr. Ishaya Dare Akau whose appointment, according to the presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, took immediate effect.The sack came barely five days after Agwai made a remark about inevitability of change and the need for the leadership in Nigeria to accept it and move with it when the time comes.Agwai, who was […]

He was replaced by Mr. Ishaya Dare Akau whose appointment, according to the presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, took immediate effect.
The sack came barely five days after Agwai made a remark about inevitability of change and the need for the leadership in Nigeria to accept it and move with it when the time comes.
Agwai, who was speaking last Thursday at the 78th birthday anniversary celebration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, also cautioned the military to stay out of politics if they should win the war against Boko Haram insurgency and other security challenges.
Abati said in a statement that the change was “in furtherance of President’s efforts to continuously re-energise and re-position agencies of the federal government for optimal service delivery.”
He said the new SURE-P chairman hails from Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State and holds Bachelors’ Degrees in the Arts and Law.
Akau was a former chairman of the Kaduna State Universal Education Board and one time chairman of the National Assembly Service Commission.
The presidential aide said Jonathan thanked General Agwai for his service to the nation and wished him well in his future endeavours.
Our correspondent reports that Agwai was appointed substantive chairman of the SURE-P on February 6, last year.
General Agwai has a long standing relationship with former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He was invited by Obasanjo to make a presentation at his birthday event. Agwai spoke on change and said if that is what the people want, leaders should allow them to have it.
Agwai’s inevitability of change remarks
“In life,” he said, “you find out that everything needs change, if that is what the community wants, what the people want, you must give it to them and as such, it becomes inevitable.”
He added: “You can have everything nice, but, if you don’t have the right leadership to propel it, it cannot go anywhere.
“Integrity matters, doing what is good for the larger society, and not just what you want to do for a narrow society to please yourself.”
In a lecture titled, “Imperatives of a National Security framework for the development and progress of Nigeria,” Gen Agwai said the involvement of the military in politics would retard the growth and development of the country.
He said the military should remain professional, adding that integrity also matters in providing quality leadership.
But the presidency was not happy that Agwai attended the Obasanjo’s event without seeking any clearance, a source familiar with circumstances leading to the general’s removal said.
The source added: “They were certainly not happy with the visit, and then the presentation he made.
“As SURE-P chairman, they believed Agwai should have used his position to help the PDP with its campaign, but he refused to do that.
“Let me cite one instance, there was this meeting where the president addressed the 36 SURE-P chairmen, and the vice chairmen who are also heads of the NDE at the states, in fact most of them were Jonathan’s coordinators in 2011.
“At the meeting, they spoke on the need for the SURE-P to help PDP in the states. Agwai declined to speak but his vice chairman spoke in his presence (not on his behalf).
“That was the genesis of the problem; they reached a conclusion that Agwai was not with them and started looking for ways to ease him out. Now they have replaced him with someone who is a card carrying member of the PDP.”
General Agwai was not available for comment. A source close to him said he left for India yesterday on an Ethiopian flight to attend a peace and conflict resolution event for which he had been a consultant.
“The statement announcing his removal was issued few hours after he left, but he knew it was coming,” the source said.
Daily Trust reports that Agwai is the second person to head the SURE-P programme which was set up in February after the subsidy protests of 2012.
The first SURE-P chairman and former Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade, resigned in November 2013.
In December last year, Kolade, speaking at the sixth Christopher Kolade Symposium organised by the Nigeria Leadership Initiative in Lagos, accused  President Goodluck Jonathan of not leading the country responsibly.
He also accused Jonathan of insensitivity for attending a rally in Kano shortly after a bombing that killed several people.