President Goodluck Jonathan sacked Saratu Altine Umar as the executive secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) on the suspicion that she leaked information on the granting of questionable tax waivers estimated to be worth $20 billion.

The woman was appointed just last year.

TheCable, an online news platform reported today that Jonathan sacked the woman eight days after a nine-month-old letter on the controversial waivers was leaked to the media — and six days after the NIPC staff union petitioned the president to ask for her removal.

Like many terminated appointments, the President did not give any reason for his action.

But TheCable strongly linked the action to the scandal of the $20 billion tax holidays granted to undeserving companies between 2010 and 2014, mostly on the recommendation of NIPC.

The waivers were granted before Umar became its chief executive.

On the saddle, she embarked on a tax holiday reform for which she was recently commended by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC).

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the finance minister, had written to Umar in August 2014 to complain about the indiscriminate granting of waivers. The letter, which was published in THISDAY on May 10, 2015, alleged that the federal government lost huge revenue to questionable tax holidays granted companies by NIPC. TheCable learnt that Umar was accused of leaking Okonjo-Iweala’s letter to the media in order to embarrass Jonathan and curry the favour of President-elect Muhammadu Buhari.

The prolonged media war against Umar by NIPC senior staff was believed to have been instigated “from outside” in order to prepare grounds for the removal of the woman The biggest beneficiaries of the waivers are thought to be oil companies linked to top government officials.

After the leak of Okonjo-Iweala’s letter, NIPC staff petitioned Jonathan, asking for Umar’s removal.

“It appears the current Executive Secretary has taken the staff agitation for her removal to a desperate point of dragging the outgoing administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to the mud by whipping up sentiments in the media at this critical time when the Nation is undergoing transition. The leakage of the letter by the Minister of Finance sent directly to the Executive Secretary of NIPC on August 12, 2014 and which has been in her custody, smacks of an act of irresponsibility and immaturity,” Ahmad Ghondi, chairman of NIPC union, wrote in the petition.

Jonathan promptly fired Umar in a move reminiscent of the removal of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as central bank governor in February 2014 after his letter on “missing” oil money leaked.

Originally reported by www.thecable.ng