The Senator representing Ondo South and a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Jimoh Ibrahim has suggested that certain ministers facing corruption allegations should be removed from the cabinet.
Ibrahim, speaking during a Channels TV programme, Politics Today, disclosed this on Wednesday night and urged President Bola Tinubu to dissolve his cabinet and dismiss specific ministers.
“You have to dissolve the cabinet. You have to come up with knowledgeable people. The cabinet is too cold,” the senator stated.
The member of the Senate Appropriation Committee expressed disappointment that the current ministers do not meet the country’s top standards and are not the most suitable for addressing the nation’s economic challenges, evident in the year since the President’s inauguration
“You have to dissolve the cabinet, you have to come up with knowledgeable people, the cabinet is too cold, and some of them accused of corruption should be dropped,” he emphasised.
Earlier, the senator also reiterated that the primary election conducted ahead of the governorship election coming up in the Ondo State was a “mega fraud.”
This is as he, in turn, defended his action to seek its cancellation.
It was reported that the senator approached a Federal High Court in Abuja, to seek the nullification of the primary election that produced Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, as the APC governorship candidate for the forthcoming election in Ondo State.
Ganduje had also earlier made an appeal to the Senator and urged him to back Aiyedatiwa.
The Ondo State chapter of the APC equally appealed to all the party aspirants who lost the ticket in the April 20 governorship primary to join hands with the winner of the election so that they can win the November 16 governorship poll.
Tinubu, alongside the vice-president, Kashim Shettima, came into office last May with promises to reform the country’s economy and deliver the dividends of democracy to Nigerians.
Ibrahim opined that some of the ministers who have been accused of corruption should be dropped. “If you fail to do that, you will be carrying their burdens, and that will be terrible for our country,” he warned the President.
Ibrahim said the President has a “fantastic strategy” with a faulty structure.
He lamented that the inefficient structure has “arrested” the strategy. “Do you think the current system can carry the strategy?” he queried.
Nigeria faces complex socio-economic challenges stemming from the new administration’s decisions to remove petrol subsidies and unify foreign exchange windows.
Perform or be sacked
Tinubu, in November 2023, had warned the ministers to either perform or be sacked at a ministerial retreat, where he also announced that they would be periodically evaluated.
“If you are performing, nothing to fear, if you miss the objective we review, if you don’t perform, you leave us… Don’t be a clog in the wheel of Nigeria’s progress,” the president had said.
It was reported on Monday that Tinubu was expected to receive a report on the performance status of the Federal Government’s ministries, departments, and agencies for the first quarter of 2024.
Tosin Oyediran
