Ministers fired in target of ‘rebel’ govs

The crisis in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) recorded high-profile casualties yesterday with the sack of nine ministers including four from states whose governors formed the break-away faction of the ruling party.
Also, two of the fired ministers were first nominated into the cabinet by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who Presidency foot soldiers accuse of stoking the PDP crisis while at the same time appearing to be spearheading mediation efforts.
President Goodluck Jonathan announced the cabinet changes during the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja yesterday, according to Information Minister Labaran Maku.
Those affected are Olugbenga Ashiru (Foreign Affairs), Ruqayyatu Rufai (Education), Shamsuddeen Usman (National Planning), Hadiza Mailafia (Environment), Amal Pepple (Lands, Housing and Urban Development) and Ita Okon Bassey Ewa (Science and Technology).
Others are Erelu Obada (State for Defence), Zainab Ibrahim Kuchi (State for Power) andBukar Tijani (State for Agriculture).
The dismissals came after a lull in persistent rumours of imminent cabinet reshuffle since last year.
Maku, who spoke to journalists at the State House in Abuja, said the president fired the nine ministers to “refocus the government to inject new blood” into his administration.
But sources in the political circles said there was more to the dismissals than that, saying the president was looking to bringing in ministers who could stand up to the seven governors opposed to Alhaji Bamanga Tukur’s leadership of the PDP.
Senator Danladi Sankara, who is among leaders of the ‘New PDP’, said the sacking of ministers was done to scare the defectors into submission, but vowed that they would not give up. Sankara, from Jigawa State, spoke in an interview with the BBC Hausa last night.
Four of the removed ministers are from states whose governors are in the ‘New PDP’, namely Rufai from Jigawa, Usman from Kano, Kuchi from Niger and Pepple from Rivers.
For their part, Ashiru and Obada are loyalists of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who Jonathan’s foot soldiers accuse of running with the hare and hunting with hounds in the PDP crisis. The seven ‘rebel’ governors are known to be very close to Obasanjo, but he formed an elders committee that is trying to mediate in the dispute.
Though Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi already has a strong challenger in Jonathan’s cabinet (Minister of State for Education Nyesom Wike), the sacking of Pepple could give Wike the chance to be elevated to a substantive minister in the cabinet, an analyst said.
Governors in the Abubakar Baraje-led PDP faction whose ministers were not affected by yesterday’s cabinet changes are Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa). It was not clear yesterday why Jonathan retained the ministers from the two states.
Sokoto has no minister at the moment, following the removal last month of Youth Minister Inuwa Abdulkadir, a loyalist of Governor Aliyu Wamakko of the ‘New PDP’.
A source close to one of the ‘rebel’ governors said already two strong Bamanga-led PDP politicians from their state have been cozying up to the Presidency in the hope of grabbing the state’s ministerial slot.
Daily Trust learnt that a similar scenario is playing out in other states controlled by the ‘New PDP’, as Tukur faction politicians move to upstage ministers known to be close to the defecting governors, or too weak to challenge them.
Regarding the removal of Mailafia, who is from Kaduna State, a source said this was done to appease southern Kaduna leaders who had been agitating for some political “balancing” given that they lost the governor’s slot with the death of Governor Ibrahim Yakowa.
Jonathan is likely to appoint someone from the southern zone to replace Mailafia, who hails from the other part of the state, the source said.
‘Not political’
But responding to questions from journalists yesterday, Maku said there was no political undertone to the dismissals of ministers, saying “this has nothing to do absolutely with any other factor other than having come two years into his administration, he’s refocusing his government to inject fresh blood to achieve greater service delivery to the people of Nigeria. That is the only reason for it.”
He added that “cabinet reshuffle is part of a systematic public administration. I believe what the president has done is simply to address the issues of retooling his government to achieve greater service delivery.
“I believe as he (Jonathan) explained to us, he has studied the way his government has worked, he has set targets for the next two years and what he is doing is to adjust his cabinet to realise the objectives of his transformation agenda. That is exactly the reason he has come out with these changes at this time.”
He said pending the appointment of substantive ministers for the affected ministries, Jonathan asked Maku to supervise the Defence Ministry, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Viola Owuliri to supervise Foreign Affairs, Minister of State for Education Nyesom Wike to supervise Education, Minister of State for Niger Delta Dickson Darius Ishaku to supervise Environment and Minister of Solid Minerals Musa Sada to supervise Lands, Housing and Urban Development.
Also, Communications Technology Minister Omobola Johnson is to supervise Science and Technology, while Minister of State for Works Bashir Yuguda is to supervise National Planning.
Minister of Power Chinedu Nebo is to take full responsibilities of the Power Ministry pending the appointment of a minister of state, while Minister of Agriculture Akinwumi Adesina is to take full charge of the Agriculture Ministry pending when a minister of state is appointed.
Maku said the president would send to the National Assembly a list of ministerial nominees to replace the sacked ministers.
Meanwhile, former Environment Minister Malaifia spoke to journalists shortly after the FEC meeting where her removal was announced. She became emotional and shed tears, intermittently pausing while responding to journalists’ questions on how she felt about her removal.
“I have been part of the government. I owe a lot to it. We’ve been honoured to serve and we’re moving out honourably, and I think that is important. Life goes on. Many have come and gone without honour,” she said.
Asked if her removal came as a shock, she said: “No! If you’re wise enough, life is a cycle where from the day you come in, you should know there is an exit. Isn’t it? And every Wednesday I come here hoping one day there will be a cabinet reshuffle. I’ve been grateful to you all. I’ve enjoyed working with all of you. And please, support the government’s programmes, the Great Green Wall in particularly, new map and so on.”
‘Political vendetta’
In his reaction to the cabinet changes, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Jigawa State, Alhaji Farouq Adamu Aliyu, said the sudden removal of Education Minister Rufa’i was politically motivated.
He told Daily Trust the minister was removed because the governor of her state, Sule Lamido, was in the vanguard of opposition to Jonathan’s ambition for re-election.
“Without fear of any contradiction, Professor Ruqayyah can never be one of the worst ministers in the country for her to be removed in this way but because president wanted to pay Governor Lamido back, he sacked the minister,” Aliyu said.
“President Jonathan is paying Lamido back. Lamido is in the vanguard of fighting Jonathan’s ambition and this is one of the immediate consequences of their actions.”
Also, president of the Civil Rights Congress, Malam Shehu Sani, said the sacked ministers were “victims of political chess game and vendetta. President Goodluck’s government is becoming vindictive and punitive. The President is behaving like a wounded lion going after anything and everything against his path. It is unfortunate that Ministers are sacked for politics rather than for non-performance.”
Wike ‘surprised’
Soon after the cabinet changes, Mrs Rufai handed over to Wike at a brief ceremony in Abuja, where Wike said her removal came as a surprise.
He said his anticipation was that if the cabinet was to be re-shuffled “one of us may have gone to another ministry but not this [sack].”
Wike said, “You could see that even the President was not himself.” He promised to continue with the reforms in the sector pioneered by the former minister.
For her part, Rufa’i thanked President Jonathan for the opportunity given to her to serve, and said she would be returning to Bayero University Kano where she left as a lecturer to resume academic work.
Her last engagement was a breakfast meeting earlier yesterday with the Director General of UNESCO Ms. Irina Bokova who is in Nigeria on a three-day working visit to commission an ECOWAS regional office.