The
National Chairman of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams
Oshiomhole, has threatened to sack the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris
Ngige, from the party.
Mr Oshiomhole is having a running
battle with Mr Ngige over the refusal of the minister to inaugurate boards of
parastatals under his ministry, several months after they were appointed by
President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr Oshiomhole had written to Mr
Ngige asking him to inaugurate all board members appointed under his ministry.
Mr Ngige, however, replied and
stated that he had inaugurated three boards in the ministry but would not be in
a hurry to inaugurate that of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF),
because of an alleged N40 billion corruption scandal by the former board.
Speaking with State House
correspondents on Monday, Mr Oshiomhole said “If the minister refuses we will
suspend him from the party.”
He said he has resolved to return
to internal discipline to the APC.
“For me it is the height of
mischief for any minister, you cannot purport to be an honourable minister and
you act dishonourably and nobody is greater than the party.
“And if the President condones
disrespect for his office, I will not condone disrespect for the party. And
when we expel the minister we will prevail on the president that he can’t keep
him in his cabinet; people who have neither respect for his own decisions nor
have respect for the party without which they would not have been ministers,”
he said.
Mr Oshiomhole said Mr Ngige was
not appointed as an independent candidate adding “no minister is above the
party and they have taken undue advantage of the president’s fatherly
disposition.”
He said the decision not to
inaugurate the boards amounts to a disrespect for the office of the president
by all the ministers that are yet to inaugurate board members under their
ministries.
Apart from
Mr Ngige, Minister of State (Aviation), Hadi Sirika, is also yet to inaugurate
some boards under his ministry.
The former Edo State governor said
“it is the same green pen that made them ministers that appointed these boards
that they are refusing to swear in. And it is absolutely illegal for a minister
in a democracy to prey on the powers of the board because the laws establishing
those institutions are clear, that the boards have procedures to follow.
“So, when
a minister sits in his office to appropriate the powers of the board in a
democracy, not in a dictatorship, award contracts that didn’t go through
boards, those are clearly abuse of office for which they are liable.
“I am convinced that what they are
doing is not with the endorsement of Mr. President. Over the period they have
tried to drop the president’s name but I tell them it is the same authority
that appoint these people.
“So, we are informing them that it
is either they comply to the president’s instructions or they comply with the
party’s position or they go and administer outside the government.”
Mr Oshiomhole said APC leadership
only has respect for ministers who recognise that they are a product of a
political party “and we are not negotiating that.”
“If they did that
in the past, under our leadership we will not tolerate it. They either comply or
we will expel them from the party. When we expel them we will find out how a
government can keep a rebel in the cabinet. There is no question about that,”
he said. Video below.
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