Seven ministers with governorship
ambition may soon quit the President Goodluck Jonathan administration to pursue
their dreams.
The ministers are the minister of
state for education, Nyesom Wike, Rivers information minister, Labaran
Maku (Nasarawa); Niger Delta Affairs minister, Godsday Orubebe (who is already
pitted against elder statesman, Edwin Clark) in Delta; aviation minister,
Adaeze Stella Oduah (Anambra); police affairs minister, Caleb Olubolade
(Ekiti); Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) and
his education counterpart, Professor Ruqqayat Rufai (Jigawa).
LEADERSHIP Sunday learnt that the
number of ministers expected to resign may be higher as more are believed to be
testing the waters before they would come out to indicate their interest.
It was also gathered that President
Jonathan has given the affected ministers October deadline to resign their
appointments.
The president’s directive is said to
have been informed by growing allegations against the ministers that they were
using their offices and also hiding under his cover to pursue their ambition.
LEADERSHIP Sunday learnt
President Jonathan has given the affected ministers a notice to quit his
administration on or before October this year.
An impeccable source told our
correspondent that the delay in the much-awaited cabinet reshuffle was due to
the president’s awareness that some of the ministers were nursing ambitions to
govern their states in 2015.
“There has to be a once and for all
repackaging if at all the president needs to change his team; but as it is,
reshuffling the cabinet ahead of October would create a vacuum to be filled
again after October”, the source said.
But as this disclosure came,
the presidency has clarified that President Jonathan did not need to pressure
any minister to quit since the laws guiding electoral matters were clear enough
to guide the aspirants
In spite of this, the source said
President Jonathan has lately been inundated with reports of some underhand
dealings without his knowledge in some of the affected states.
The source who linked the
lingering political crisis in Rivers State to the alleged governorship ambition
of Wike, further disclosed that there are several other suppressed frictions in
some states of the federation that “are merely being managed”.
“From all indications, some
ministers with ambition to govern their respective states usually drop the
president’s name in most things they do just to foster their ambition. In most
cases, they deliberately misinform stakeholders within the Peoples’ Democratic
Party (PDP) knowing fully-well that such people have little or no access to
either the national leadership of the party or even the presidency to clarify
issues.
“What we are seeing in Rivers
State is not new in politics; we all know that the state governor may have been
totally disrespectful to the president, we all detest it, but the crisis would
not have gotten to this level if not for the dramatic involvement of Wike
because he wants to run as governor.
“That is why Mr. President has
humbly told those with such ambition to quit either in October or even before
and pursue their dream.”
All the same, the presidency said it
had no knowledge of such decision by the president that ministers with
governorship ambition should quit in October.
Special adviser to the
president on political matters, Barrister Ali Ahmed Gulak, told LEADERHIP
Sunday that rather than the president doing so, the laws governing time limits
for affected officials shall suffice.
“It is not a thing we should
worry about because it is not true. The president does not need to ask people
to start to quit when in actual fact we all know the laws guiding our electoral
environment.
Source: Leadership
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