The Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari will decide on what to do with ministers who decided to drop their presidential ambition after he (Buhari) directed them to resign their positions.
Mohammed made this known on Wednesday in Abuja while responding to questions from State House Correspondents at the end of the week’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
The minister said he would confirm from President Buhari, the fate of the ministers who made a U-turn on their ambition, and whether or not they have been reabsorbed into the cabinet.
Buhari had last week directed ministers, heads of agencies and ambassadors pursuing political ambitions to resign from office on or before Monday, May 16. But while some have resigned, some rather chose to remain in Buhari’s cabinet.
For instance, Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige; Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva and Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, who had planned to contest in the 2023 elections have backtracked and chosen to stay in Buhari’s cabinet.
Though they had bought multi-million-naira nomination and expression of interest forms of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), they later announced that they had made a U-turn.
“The other question about ministers returning or not going, I think you need to give me more time so that I can tell you exactly what the situation is. Right now, I need to cross-check. I need to confirm again from Mr President what the situation is. You see the final decision on who is going, who’s coming back, who’s not going lies with Mr. President,” Mohammed said.
