Jonathan axes ministers linked to PDP “dissidents”

The sack of nine ministers by President
Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday may
not be unconnected with the raging crisis
in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, which split into two following the
formation of the “New PDP” about two
weeks ago by a former Vice President,
Atiku Abubakar, seven governors and
other chieftains of the ruling party.
Mr Abubakar and seven governors,
namely Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Sule
Lamido (Jigawa), Musa Kwankwaso
(Kano), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and
Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), had stormed
out of the Eagle Square, Abuja venue of
the Special National Convention of the
PDP in protest and headed straight to the
Shehu Yar’Adua Centre where they
announced the birth of the “New PDP” at
a news conference.
They were joined at the news conference
by Governors Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers
State, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State
and other senior members of the party.
The group also announced Kawu Baraje
as its national chairman and Olagunsoye
Oyinlola as its national secretary.
Both Messrs Baraje from Kwara State and
Oyinlola from Osun State were at some
point acting national chairman and
national secretary of the ruling party.
The two factions have since been on each
other’s throats even as moves are on to
reconcile them.
However, some Nigerians have linked
Wednesday’s sack of the nine ministers to
the festering crisis.
The ministers sacked were Ruqqayyatu
Rufa’i (Education) from Jigawa State;
Olugbenga Ashiru from Ogun State
(Foreign Affairs), Hadiza Mailafa from
Kaduna State (Environment),
Shamsudeen Usman from Kano State
(National Planning), Ama Pepple from
Rivers State (Housing and Urban
Development) and Ita Bassey Okon from
Akwa Ibom (Science and Technology).
Three ministers of state sacked were
Zainab Kuchi from Niger State (Power),
Olusola Obada from Osun State (Defence)
and Bukar Tijjani from Borno State
(Agriculture).
Executive Director, Civil Society
Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC),
Auwal Rasfanjani told PREMIUM TIMES
that the exercise had nothing to do
performance, but instead attributed it to
the fall out of the crisis in the PDP.
According to him, the firing of the
Education minister and her Housing and
Urban Development counterpart may not
be unconnected with the crisis in the
ruling party because their governors, who
nominated them for the positions, had
since fallen out with President Goodluck
Jonathan.
While the Education minister was
nominated into the federal cabinet by Mr.
Lamido, Ms. Pepple was brought in by
Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers
State.
Besides, it was learnt that Mrs Kuchi was
booted out of the cabinet because she
was nominated by the Niger State
governor while Mrs Obada suffered that
fate because of her close association with
Mr Oyinlola and ex-President Olusegun
Obasanjo. In fact, before her appointment
as defence minister, Mrs Obada was
deputy to Mr Oyinlola while the latter was
Osun State governor.
They were sacked by the Court of Appeal
which recognized the incumbent, Rauf
Aregbesola as the duly elected governor.
However, there are also speculations that
Mr Jonathan fired Mr Ashiru as Foreign
Affairs Minister because he was
nominated into the cabinet by former
President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The Youth Minister, who was nominated
into the federal cabinet by the Sokoto
State governor, was also sacked recently.
Mr Amaechi has also tasted the negative
side of the power game as his associates,
Sam Sam Jaja lost his place in the PDP
as Deputy National Chairman while the
party structure in Rivers State was
retrieved from him and given to his
political rival, Nyesom Wike, who now will
oversee the Education Ministry until a
substantive minister is named.
It is not even unlikely that the
controversial junior minister may be
retained as the substantive minister in the
strategic ministry.
In the main, although, Mr Obasanjo has
been involved in the troubleshooting in
the party since the crisis began and in
fact heads the PDP Elders Committee,
which met with the two factions in Abuja
last Friday, it was gathered that Mr
Jonathan had fingered him (Obasanjo) as
the brain behind the crisis.
Mr. Jonathan, reports say, believe Mr
Obasanjo, his major political benefactor,
does not want him to run for the nation’s
highest political office in 2015
PREMIUM TIMES had reported exclusively
that the president stormed out of a recent
peace meeting and accused his
predecessor of fuelling the crisis.
The former president has been romancing
with some of the “rebel” governors, some
of who invited him to commission
projects they executed in their states.
For Instance, while in Jigawa state on
May 29 (Democracy Day) to commission
some projects executed by Mr Lamido, Mr
Obasanjo in his speech hinted that the
Jigawa governor could aspire to the office
of president.
Even so, Mr Obasanjo seems to be the
main loser as his associates both in the
government and the ruling party are
gradually being eased out.
Apart from Messrs Oyinlola, a retired
military general (who had earlier lost his
place as the National Secretary of PDP)
and Ashiru, other associates of the former
president who have lost their positions in
the party include Bode Mustapha as
National Auditor of PDP, Olusegun Oni as
National Vice chairman of the party in the
South West.
Mr. Obasanjo’s associate, Kema Chikwe,
is believed to have returned as the
National Woman Leader of the PDP
because she switched political loyalty to
Mr Jonathan and his wife, Patience, after
she and other members of the National
Working Committee, NWC, of the party
were prevailed to resign their positions
last June due to a report by the
Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, faulting their election
in the March 2012 National Convention of
the ruling party.
To be sure, Mr Jonathan, still wielding the
big stick, may deploy it against perceived
political enemies in his bid to return as
president in 2015.