The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation has cited the appointment of Chief Mike Omeri, the Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in the Jonathan campaign organisation as an act of impunity, and violation of the NOA Act.

The campaign organisation said this action by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in violation of Part 2 Section 6 (2) of the National Orientation Agency Act which expressly prescribes that the Director General of NOA should be non-partisan.

The campaign organisation described Omeri’s appointment as unbecoming and designed to compromise and undermines the rules and principles on which the nation’s public service was founded. The campaign stated that this action jeopardises the neutrality, reputation and position of the service as an institution of governance.

In a statement signed by Mallam Garba Shehu, Director of Media and Publicity of the organisation, the APC Campaign condemned the inclusion of Omeri, the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), a Federal Government agency as a member of the Media and Publicity sub-committee of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation.

 According to Shehu, the action is in bad taste and contravenes the public service rules to which all public servants including the DG of the NOA is bound.

The statement stated further that the publication of the name of the NOA DG in some national dailies with other members of the PDP publicity sub-committee is insensitive, reckless and in poor taste.

 He added that the unprecedented step of co-opting public servants of any cadre into a political party’s campaign structure amounts to making the concerned public officer partisan and therefore a calculated attempt to pollute the reliability and appeal of the public service.

 Shehu called on the President to remedy the blunder by ensuring that Omeri is dropped from the PDP Media and Publicity sub-committee without delay, considering that it contravenes Part 2 Section 6 (2) of the rules and regulations for the appointment of the DG of NOA which states, inter alia that the DG of the agency shall be “non-partisan”.

“In this election season, the helmsman of the NOA by the law establishing it, should be in the forefront of the campaign for peaceful and credible election and not to be seen to be collaborating with the ruling PDP,” Shehu said.