The senator from Ondo South and a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Jimoh Ibrahim, has recommended that certain ministers who are facing corruption allegations should be dismissed from the cabinet.
Ibrahim, while appearing on a Channels TV programme called Politics Today, revealed this on Wednesday night and urged President Bola Tinubu to dissolve his cabinet and remove specific ministers.
“You have to dissolve the cabinet. You have to appoint knowledgeable people. The cabinet is too inactive,” the senator said.
The member of the Senate Appropriation Committee expressed disappointment that the current ministers do not meet the country’s high standards and are not the most suitable for addressing the nation’s economic challenges, which have been evident in the year since the President’s inauguration.
“You have to dissolve the cabinet, you have to appoint knowledgeable people, the cabinet is too inactive, and some of them accused of corruption should be dropped,” he emphasized.
Earlier, the senator also restated that the primary election held ahead of the upcoming gubernatorial election in Ondo State was a “huge deceit.”
This is as he, in turn, defended his decision to seek its cancellation.
PUNCH Online 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 gubernatorial candidate for the forthcoming election in Ondo State.
Ganduje had also previously appealed to the senator and urged him to support Aiyedatiwa.
The Ondo State chapter of the APC also appealed to all the party aspirants who lost the ticket in the April 20 gubernatorial primary to unite with the winner of the election so that they can win the November 16 gubernatorial poll.
Tinubu, alongside the vice-president, Kashim Shettima, came into office last May with promises to reform the country’s economy and deliver the benefits of democracy to Nigerians.
Ibrahim believes 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 flawed structure.
He lamented that the ineffective structure has “hindered” the strategy. “Do you think the current system can carry the strategy?” he asked.
Nigeria faces intricate socio-economic challenges arising from the new administration’s decisions to remove petrol subsidies and unify foreign exchange windows.
Perform or be sacked
Tinubu, in November 2023, had cautioned 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 hindrance to Nigeria’s progress,” the president had said.
Meanwhile, PUNCH Online 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.
