Ministers shed tears as Jonathan sacks nine

President Goodluck Jonathan, in his first major
cabinet shake-up since his inauguration on May
29, 2011, sacked nine ministers on Wednesday.
The sacking , announced by the Minister of
Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, shocked the
Federal Executive Council members, most of
whom had arrived the Council Chambers in the
Presidential Villa in high spirits exchanging
banter.
Before they left, deafening silence enveloped the
Council Chambers as the President reeled out the
names of the affected ministers. Some of the
sacked and retained ministers betrayed their
emotions as they shed tears.
The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku,
announced the cabinet shake-up after the weekly
FEC meeting in Abuja.
The sacked ministers are Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai
(Education); Okon Ewa-Bassey (Science and
Techology); Olugbenga Ashiru (Foreign Affairs);
Hadiza Mailafia (Environment); Shamsudeen
Usman, (National Planning); and Ama Pepple
(Housing, Lands and Urban Development).
The Minister of State for Defence, Olusola Obada,
and her counterparts in the Agriculture Ministry,
Alhaji Bukar Tijani and Power, Zainab Kuchi, were
also affected.
The PUNCH had exclusively reported on August
29 that Jonathan was under pressure from his
close aides to sack some ministers and appoint
those believed to have political value in their
states.
The aides were said to have argued that if the
President decided to seek re-election in 2015,
many ministers lacked the required political clout
to deliver their states.
A top Presidency source had said that Jonathan
was advised by the aides to constitute what they
described as "election cabinet."
Such a cabinet, according to a source, will
comprise mostly people that would be proud to
defend Jonathan whenever he was being
criticised.
But Maku explained that the dropping of the
ministers had no political undertone.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of
the FEC meeting, Maku, said the cabinet shake-up
was with immediate effect.
He said the President, through the Secretary to
the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius
Anyim, had named the retained FEC members that
would oversee the affected ministries pending the
appointment of substantive ministers to head
them.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to be overseen
by the minisiter of State, Prof. Viola Owuliri; the
Education by the Minister of State, Nyesome Wike;
and the Minister of Solid Minerals, Musa Sada,
Housing, Lands and Urban Development.
The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs.
Omobola Johnson, is to supervise the Science and
Technology Ministry; the Minister of State for
Works, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, Ministry of
Planning; Maku, Defence; and Minister of Niger
Delta Affairs, Mr. Goodsday Orubebe,
Environment Ministry.
When Maku announced that he would oversee the
Defence Ministry, State House correspondents
shouted but he pleaded with them to allow him to
continue his briefing.
He then added that the Ministers of Agriculture,
Akinwumi Adesina and Power, Chinedu Nebo
would take care of the duties of the sacked
ministers of state in their respective ministries.
Maku said the President expressed satisfaction
with the performance of the affected ministers
while in office.
He stated that Jonathan assured them that he
would call on them whenever their services were
needed for the development of the country.
The Information minister said, "These ministers
have been affected in the cabinet reshuffle and
the President in Council expressed his
satisfaction and happiness over their commitment
to government since they were appointed."
"He (the President) also thanked them for their
services to their fatherland and said he would
continue to engage them in one way or the other
in the implementation of the transformation
agenda and of course in the various challenges
that government faces around the country and in
terms of efforts to transform our country."
The minister said that the President would soon
send a list of new ministers to the National
Assembly to replace those who had been
dropped.
Maku who described the cabinet shake-up as a
normal process,added that it was meant to inject
fresh blood into the government.
Maku said, "There is no government in the world
where the leaders do not reshuffle their cabinets,
there is none. And cabinet reshuffle is part of a
systematic public administration and I believe
what the President has done is simply to address
the issues of re-tooling his government to achieve
service delivery.
"It is at the discretion of the President at all times
to reshuffle his cabinet. It is his own prerogative
under the constitution and this has nothing to do
absolutely with any other factor other than having
come two years into his administration in the last
lap, what I see the President doing is to refocus
his government, to inject in fresh blood to
achieve greater service delivery to the people of
Nigeria. That is the only reason for it, any other
thing has nothing to do with the decision of the
President.
"The President is trying to in reject fresh blood
into the system while retaining again the loyalty of
all those who have worked."
A source at the meeting said the President caught
the ministers unawares.
He quoted Jonathan as saying, "Some of you will
not be with us at the next Federal Executive
Council meeting. It is not because you didn't do
well, but that is the ingredients of democracy. You
will hear the details from the SGF."
He then read out the affected names and then
hurriedly left the Council chambers.
One of the retained ministers,Edem Duke of the
Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National
Orientation was seen dabbing his eyes
intermittently with his handkerchief. The former
Minister of Environment, Mailafia, also did the
same before she was driven out of the Villa.
Before Maku's briefing, Duke's action made
journalists think that he was one of the nine that
were fired.
Source:punch