A former commandant-general of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu has handed over to Hilary Kelechi Madu following his retirement.
Madu takes over as the Acting Commandant-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Hilary Madu, who was promoted Deputy Comptroller-General (Operations) of the NSCDC in July 2017, takes over from Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu whose extended tenure of six months expired today.
Mr Gana officially handed over to Madu who is the most senior officer in the corps at a brief ceremony in the Abuja office.
Recall that the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, had extended Mr Gana’s tenure by six months when his tenure expired in July, 2020.
DAILY NIGERIAN gathered that in the early hours of Monday, Mr Gana handed over the mantle of the NSCDC leadership to the DCG Operations, Kelechi Madu, at the corps headquarters, Abuja.
There had been some furore in the Ministry of Interior over alleged plans to grant a third tenure extension for heads of paramilitary agencies.
The agencies include the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the Nigerian Correctional Service (CoS) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
The tenures of the trio of Mohammed Babandede (Comptroller-General of the NIS), Abdullahi Muhammad Gana (Commandant-General of the NSCDC) and Jafaru Ahmed (Controller-General of the NCoS) expired between 2019 and 2020.
The heads of the paramilitary organisations had exceeded the mandatory age limit and number of years of service and had their tenures extended last year.
Stakeholders, including serving and retired officers had berated the Federal Government, especially the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, stressing that the extension was counter-productive and impeded career-progression of other officers.