By Social media went ablaze, on Monday, following a report from the Peoples Gazette that President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed his personal assistant on new media, Bashir Ahmad as the head of the newly-established National Production Monitoring System (NPMS), of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
The NPMS is said to be a powerful and lucrative division of the country’s oil and gas sector regulator, the DPR.
Just last week, the president was reported by the Peoples Gazette to have appointed his nephew, Sabiu Tunde Yusuf, as an assistant director at the nation’s external intelligence outfit, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).
The 29-year-old Bashir, until his appointment as a media aide to President Buhari in 2015, worked as a reporter for local Hausa newspapers Rariya and Muryar Arewa, between 2012 and 2014, before joining Leadership Hausa in 2015.
His new appointment with the DPR, to many, substantiates allegations of brazen nepotism levelled against the present adminstration.
In a tweet on Monday, Bashir Ahmad denied the report, saying he is not a staff of the DPR, talkless of getting an appointment in the agency.
“A friend sent me a link to a concocted story from an online news blog that the President has quietly appointed me as a manager of the DPR, a department of Ministry of Petroleum Resources, for those who want to know the truth, the story is 100% FALSE. I am not a staff of the DPR,” he said.
A friend sent me a link to a concocted story from an online news blog that the President has quietly appointed me as a manager of the DPR, a department of Ministry of Petroleum Resources, for those who want to know the truth, the story is 100% FALSE. I am not a staff of the DPR.
— Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) February 15, 2021
Meanwhile, Nigerians have reacted on social media to this development. Whilst many question the criteria and qualification for the appointment, others say it is nepotism and corruption at work.
Here’s what they are tweeting:
Until the Presidency come out to publicly deny this, I will assume it is 100% true. And, I am completely and utterly ashamed that, again, this administration is showing the country and the party complete disrespect. The Bashir I know is grossly unqualified for this job. Rubbish! https://t.co/8DACWAiqAy
— Gbenga 'Gøld' Ølørunpomi (@GbengaGOLD) February 15, 2021
Bashir @BashirAhmaad a "media person" will oversea oil regulations & supervise Shell, NNPC, Mobil, Chevron & other giant oil firms & also draw double salaries when over 50% of Nigeria working population are unemployed. Define Nepotism & corruption for me again! #mondaythoughts https://t.co/DT5Xyt9osL
— Towolawi Jamiu #EndSarsNow (@jharmo) February 15, 2021
Do you guys know that the Bashir appointment get weight pass Keyamo ministerial appointment? Because there is nothing in Ministry of Labour. 🤣🤦♂️
— Comrade Deji Adeyanju (@adeyanjudeji) February 15, 2021
Bashir, the only proof that @GazetteNGR is lying, even though we know they lie ceaselessly, is you suing them in court to a logical and legal conclusion. Anything other than that, the story is true, technically https://t.co/7qCJTp6YHI
— Souljah (@jeffphilips1) February 15, 2021
Bashir, you know there’s nothing Nepotism cannot do, you’re a living testimony of that.
You don’t have to know where DPR office is, you didn’t even know where Aso Rock was before your uncle became President. https://t.co/81JjmkOm78
— Man of Letters. (@Letter_to_Jack) February 15, 2021
