Some 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

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

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

Another X user, Dr. Toks, said one of the sins of Abubakar was making the CAC “paperless” by “embracing technology to remove bottlenecks

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”

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.