Ayobami Oyalowo, an employee at the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) is not new to controversy. He was reportedly sacked from the Nigeria Port Authority after an act of insubordination led to his sacking by the suspended Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Mohammed.
A man who knows his way around the corridors of power, he soon got himself another high-flying job at NIRSAL. He was appointed on September 25, 2017 as a Manager in the Corporate Communication Department of the organization, even without tangible experience or competence beyond appearing in the media during the election campaign of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, as part of media support groups.
But almost as soon as he resumed, fellow staff began to notice his arrogant, abrasive and almost unruly side. A senior staff of NIRSAL told this website that Oyalowo would come to the office when it pleased him and left when it suited him. He bullied colleagues and flaunted connection to the corridors of power to intimidate seniors and publics of the company.
But more intriguing is Oyalowo’s audacity at violating the rules and regulations of his office and that of public service. Oyalowo, who goes by the nickname of Godfather, held other jobs or assignments while fully employed by NIRSAL. He is working two jobs at the same time and he’s proudly flaunted it at faces of his seniors in the office, this website was told.
But Oyalowo’s pomposity and audacity reportedly came to an unparalleled height in March this year when NIRSAL management transferred him to the PMRO office in Gusau, Zamfara State. He rejected the transfer on the ground that he had other things to do in Abuja! He termed the transfer as “punitive” and accused the company of planning to kill him. Since then, this website gathered, he had absconded from work.
But Oyalowo was also doing another work. He is fighting the management to force a return to the head office. He has paraded corridors of power with petition against the management of NIRSAL, in particular the Managing Director, Aliyu Abdulhameed, who he has accused of corruption.
Like a cunning activist, he had portrayed himself as a victim of a corrupt system, saying he was been punished for opposing corruption—a claim he could not substantiate.
He took his fight to the internet last week and began a naked dance in the market when he posted a letter he wrote to the Governor of Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, on the micro blogging platform. Titled “Unjustified Victimization, Harassment and Threat to My Life by The MD of NIRSAL, Aliyu Abdulhameed and His Agents,” Oyalowo threw his own dirty linen in public water.
He publicly admitted doing two jobs in the letter to the CBN governor. While explaining why he rejected his transfer to Zamfara, he stated: “I gave my reasons for rejecting the transfer and I also stated that I am a media resource person for the government who may be needed at any time to speak on TV or radio in order to educate Nigerians on various issues and policy.
“Until today, the HCM department of NIRSAL has neither replied to my mail, nor offered any communications towards my objection. They merely stopped my salary and removed me from the company’s email. “
He also reminded the CBN governor, in case he didn’t know, to “note that my family, wife and children reside in Lagos and I visit them twice a month. Going to Zamfara means I will not only be killed, but also be as far away from my loved ones as possible.”
This website could not confirm whether the CBN, which is the parent company of NIRSAL, has acknowleged or replied his letter as at press time, but a source in the apex bank told the website that the content of Oyalowo’s letter did not portray him as a diligent public servant, and expressed doubts whether the CBN would give it any consideration.
But some Oyalowo’s colleagues at NIRSAL were not surprised at what is happening to him or about what he’s saying against his employers. “There are very few people in the office who have not tasted his rashness or felt frustrated by his non-chalant attitude,” said one of the junior officers in his former office.
One of his colleagues, with the Twitter name FalzaGoodGuy, replied some of his numerous tweets against NIRSAL and the MD. In one of such tweets sent on 04/06/21, also accused him of sexual harassment of female staff and suggested he should have long being dismissed from work.
One of the tweets stated: “Bloody liar. Have you not harassed persons at the Maitama office? Stupid thug had you not threatened to slap people with your juju rings in the office? Did you not use incantations in the same office you now claim is after you?
“You should be thankful you were not sacked after the video with you having sex in the car with an unknown lady made the rounds on social media and all your NIRSAL colleagues saw it…”
FalzaGoodGuy said it was a shame that someone who had bullied and shamed people physically and on social media was after him.
Stakeholders of NIRSAL who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was regrettable that the public service allow the kind of impunity Oyalowo had displayed as a government employee, and especially during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari—a man known for his intolerance of any abuse of office.
NewMailNG will continue to watch developments on the Oyalowo saga