Kifasi Was Indicted For Corruption, Declared Unfit

This week President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Danladi Irmiya Kifasi as the new Head of Service (HoS) of the Federation, which is deemed by many as a very controversial move. Apparently, the new HoS was indicted of corruption in 2000 and barred from holding public office.
This information is contained in a White Paper obtained by SaharaReporters.
The now overseer of the nation’s civil service hails from Taraba State. He previously served as a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. This fact sparks the first suspicion: probably it was the powerful minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who influenced the president in his decision to appoint Kifasi, despite his past.
The leaked document referred to Kifasi’s involvement in a financial scandal at the Federal Superphosphate Fertilizer Company (FSFC) in Kaduna. In 2000, a panel of inquiry looked into a scandal that involved Mr. Kifasi (then the director of the FSFC), Awal Tukur, Jide Omokore, who is also close to President Jonathan, Ben Osuji, J.B. Ghumdia, J.O. Odu, and Fivatek Nigeria Limited.

Danladi Kifasi’s appointment is effective Monday, August 18th.

The panel investigated how the mentioned subjects defrauded the FSFC by making up costs, misappropriating funds, inflating the price of items and tampering with the contract for the building of a sulphuric acid plant.
The investigation confirmed that Kifasi had given out free bags of fertilizer to officials in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, handed out four AWD trucks ordered for the plant to agriculture officials.
The White Paper recommended that Kifasi should refund the total amount of funds spent on overpricing of items during his tenure. The commission added that Kifasi’s acts of corruption led to huge losses and imposed a heavy debt burden on the FSFC.
The sums subject to refunding included N20,047,844.25 lost by the company through his hyperinflation of prices for sulphuric acid, N12,100,000 being the difference between funds he claimed to have spent on a missing fire truck and water tanker and the correct price of the vehicle.
In conclusion, the commission declared Kifasi unfit to hold public office.
Nevertheless, the embattled stakeholder later claimed that late President Umaru Yar’Adua had extended a presidential pardon to him. However, he did not present any reference to the official governmental papers to back this claim.