Some eminent Nigerians have been heaping praises on Garba Abubakar, former registrar-general of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), following his sack by President Bola Tinubu.
On Friday, Tinubu approved the appointment of Hussani Magaji as the new director-general and CEO of CAC, thereby putting an end to Abubakar’s nearly four years in office.
The announcement elicited euphoric reactions in the headquarters of the CAC in Abuja on Monday where members of staff gathered to celebrate Abubakar’s exit.
The workers, who were seen dancing in a viral video, referred to Abubakar as a “vicious tyrant” and expressed their gratitude to the president for appointing a new registrar-general.
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In a banner posted at the entrance of the agency’s headquarters, the members of staff said Abubakar would be remembered for abuse of office, high-handedness, arrogance, power drunkenness, embezzlement, and witch hunting.
‘HE WAS A NO-NONSENSE MAN IN OFFICE’
However, some Nigerians have praised Abubakar for the job he did at the CAC.
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In a post on X by one Ibironke Khadeeja Quadri, Abubakar was described as a “no-nonsense man” who prohibited “business as usual” in the agency.
The netizen said the former registrar-general stopped the allocation of police and secret service personnel to the agency due to the retaining cost of N300 million per annum.
AG Abubakar, former RG of CAC, was a no nonsense man. Grandson of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, he had airs, yes. But he new his onions.
AdvertisementEvery official car slept in the office. People didn’t like that. He stopped official car carrying “oga’s” family to school and market. You can’t use… pic.twitter.com/lllLYbcDIe
— Ibironke Khadeejah Quadri (@ronkecarew) October 16, 2023
Another X user, Dr. Toks, said one of the sins of Abubakar was making the CAC “paperless” by “embracing technology to remove bottlenecks”.
One of the “sins” of the past RG of the CAC was embracing technology to remove bottlenecks in CAC. I also learned that he was a former head of compliance at CAC. Audit and Compliance guys are not generally loved in public and private settings because their mindset is to plug… pic.twitter.com/4GqET1X3fP
Advertisement— Dr. Toks 🦇 (@fimiletoks) October 17, 2023
Sam Amadi, director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, described Abubakar as a “professional, dignified and responsive” man who “must have disappointed those who wanted business as usual”.
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This is a lying caricature of the man I know. This man was professional, dignified and responsive as I know him. He must have disappointed those who wanted business as usual.
I liked his simple but practical approach to work
AdvertisementLet the new comer beware of those who did this. pic.twitter.com/fd1iR8OyM2
— Sam Amadi (@SamAmadi) October 17, 2023
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Recounting his time in office via an X thread post, Waziri Adio, former executive secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), said Abubakar was a diligent, persuasive and passionate man who implemented complex reforms at the CAC in a short time.
As head of NEITI, I engaged often with Mr. A.G. Abubakar who was then CAC’s lead on Beneficiary Ownership (CAC was the lead agency on BO under the OGP). He came across as diligent, persuasive and passionate. Not surprised that as CAC’s RG, he quickly got this key reform done. 1/3
— Waziri Adio (@Waziriadio) October 17, 2023
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