THE jubilation in the arthouse that Friday was understandable. A member of the fold, an accomplished visual artist, journalist, culture activist and until 27 months ago, Director General of the National Gallery of Art (NGA), Chief Joe Musa, has just been discharged and acquitted of all criminal charges by an Abuja High Court.The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned Musa, a First Class Fine Arts graduate and award winning culture journalist, in 2009 for allegedly misappropriating over N800 million meant for NGA. The allegation came barely two years into his tenure as DG.Musa, the first professional artist to be appointed into the exalted position since the establishment of the parastatal was arraigned alongside some of his top aides ' Director of Finance, Olusegun Ogunba; Deputy Director, Administration, Mrs. Oparagu Elizabeth; Director of Research and Planning, Dr. Kweku Tandoh; and Special Assistant to the DG, Chinedu Obi.Like Musa, all the other accused persons were let off the hook and cleared of all allegations.Ruling on the no-case submission application filed by the accused persons, the trial Judge, Adeniyi Olukayode held that the EFCC failed to establish any concrete proof to show that there is a prima facie case for them to answer.The Judge said in all the eight counts filed, the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond mere allegations, adding that the totality of the evidence tendered by the prosecution was not worth the time and resource of the court for the last two and half years'.Besides, the trial Judge concluded that the evidence of the witnesses appeared to be mere gossips that have brought untold hardship to the accused. He therefore, ruled that since the evidence adduced by the prosecution is not enough to continue the case, the accused persons are discharged.MUSA's journey down this road began late in July 2009 when the EFCC, after several weeks of investigation, arraigned him and four others before Justice Olukayode Adegbola Adeniyi of the FCT High Court, Lugbe, Abuja on a 12-count charge of criminal misappropriation, criminal conversion of public funds, falsification of account, and illegal opening of account.They were alleged to have at different times between August 2006 and April 2009, diverted the sum of N1,012,130,500. Initially remanded in prison custody, they were later granted bail by which time their employers, the Federal Ministry of Tourism and Culture had placed the officers on suspension and subsequently appointed officers to take up their duties, but in acting capacities.But while the trial lasted, Musa's appointment and that of his colleagues were hastily terminated. The then Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq on the recommendation of both the legal and human resources departments appointed a substantive head for the NGA.Now discharged and acquitted, Musa, who commended the Nigerian judiciary as being 'the last hope of the common man and oppressed,' and his colleagues, do not have any job to return to, as the Ministry had already appointed substantive heads to fill their positions.'This was what I was telling them (the ministry officials),' said a senior official of the Ministry. 'They should have waited till the determination of the case to appoint a substantive head for the NGA. Their action now showed that they had found them guilty even before a court of competent jurisdiction. Now we have found ourselves in a dilemma,' he said.Abdullahi Muku, a 1998 graduate of Business Administration of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaira, who was at the time of Musa's suspension an Assistant Director, was subsequently appointed acting Director General of the NGA.Officials of the Ministry had explained that it was 'officially in-order' to take such step pending the determination of the case. They also argued that it was necessary so as to avoid a lacuna at the NGA.A source in the ministry also said that the move was taken to enable the officers involved in the trial concentrate on the trial.But a year later, in a move that was considered pre-judicial and which the outcome of the case has proved, the Ministry appointed Muku the substantive head of the NGA and replaced all the officers who were standing trial with Musa.Muku's appointment, which was for an initial period of four years, was conveyed in a letter dated March 14, 2011 and signed by the former minister, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Sadiq.A source in the ministry disclosed that the Minister was, for certain inexplicable reasons, pressurised by the former legal adviser in the ministry to recommend that Muku be confirmed as substantive DG of the NGA, though well aware that the case between Musa and the EFCC was still in court.In one of his memos to the Minister, the legal adviser argued that it was necessary to appoint a substantive head as Muku's status as an acting DG had not allowed him to function optimally as most of the decisions he had to take on behalf of the NGA were considered 'not binding as he was not a substantive DG.'Even when the Minister, according to a source, raised the issue of what the implication of making such a recommendation was, the legal adviser in a separate memo submitted that the Minister could still go ahead, 'because the case had been further adjourned and by which time the suspended DG's first term tenure would have expired.'The legal adviser reportedly argued at a meeting with the Minister that since renewal of appointments are usually based on satisfactory performance and since the suspended DG had 'spent over a year out of office,' the Minister could use that as a basis to 'proceed to recommend Muku to the President for confirmation of appointment.'Convinced by the argument put forward by the legal adviser and the brief he got from the human resources department, the Minister sought the then Acting President's consent to confirm the appointment of Muku as substantive DG.Based on the recommendation by the minister, then Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, approved both appointments and requested the minister to convey his approval to Muku.That decision was what appeared to have nailed the ambition of Musa and four others to get their jobs back should the trial end in their favour. Had he not been arraigned, Musa would have just spent a year and half into his second term in office.Observers and even staff of the NGA say Chief Musa merited a second term in office because of his track record of performance.Under Musa, the NGA was well positioned to respond to modern day challenges in the visual art sector. He also sought increase funding for the NGA. The parastatal enjoyed the kind of visibility that was considered by generality of artists as un-parallel in its history.It is to Musa's credit that Nigeria participated in a number of international visual arts events.Under him, the NGA hosted the internationally acclaimed visual arts event ' ARESUVA, a biennale which the NGA has today found difficult to host in spite of its potential to contribute to economic advancement of the country.Musa was at the verge of seeking government's support for the establishment of a National Gallery in Abuja where foreign and local artists can have the best exposure of their works before he was arraigned by the EFCC.Observers in the art sector said they expect the Culture Minister, Chief Edem Duke, to seek advice of relevant departments of the Ministry on how best to resolve the issue of alleged wrongful termination of appointment involving Musa and his co-travelers. They canvassed Musa's return to the beat, as his appointment in the first place was in response to their repeated calls for artists to be appointed heads of parastatals that concern them.And the case of Yussuf Atai'UNTIL his purported dismissal from office by the dissolved Governing Board of the National Theatre and National Troupe in March 2011, Mr. Yusuf Atai was Deputy General Manager of the National Theatre.Trouble for him started when between January and March 2010, he served as Acting GM following suspension in January 2011 of the substantive General Manager, Kabir Yusuf Yar'Adua. On resumption, the suspended GM had reportedly written a petition against Atai. In the petition Atai was accused of misappropriation of funds and dereliction of duty during the period he acted as General Manager.In the petition sent to the Governing Board and the parent ministry, the GM Kabir yar'Adua noted that Atai mismanaged funds meant for the sand-filling and fencing of the National Theatre and also couldn't account for sundry funds meant for renovation work on the theatre edifice during the period he served as acting general manager.
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