Ministers Burst into Tears as Jonathan sacks nine, in Cabinet Shake up

 

President Goodluck Jonathan, in his first major cabinet shake-up since his inauguration on May 29, 2011, sacked nine ministers on Wednesday.

The sacking , announced by the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, shocked the Federal Executive Council members, most of whom had arrived the Council Chambers in the Presidential Villa in high spirits exchanging banter.

Before they left, deafening silence enveloped the Council Chambers as the President reeled out the names of the affected ministers. Some of the sacked and retained ministers betrayed their emotions as they burst into tears.

The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, announced the cabinet shake-up after the weekly FEC meeting in Abuja.

The sacked ministers are Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai (Education); Okon Ewa-Bassey (Science and Techology); Olugbenga Ashiru (Foreign Affairs); Hadiza Mailafia (Environment); Shamsudeen Usman, (National Planning); and Ama Pepple (Housing, Lands and Urban Development).

The Minister of State for Defence, Olusola Obada, and her counterparts in the Agriculture Ministry, Alhaji Bukar Tijani and Power, Zainab Kuchi, were also affected.

It was earlier reported that President Jonathan was under pressure from his close aides to sack some ministers and appoint those believed to have political value in their states.

The aides were said to have argued that if the President decided to seek re-election in 2015, many ministers lacked the required political clout to deliver their states.

A top Presidency source had said that Jonathan was advised by the aides to constitute what they described as “election cabinet.”

Such a cabinet, according to a source, will comprise mostly people that would be proud to defend Jonathan whenever he was being criticised.

But Maku explained that the dropping of the ministers had no political undertone.

“The President is trying to in reject fresh blood into the system while retaining again the loyalty of all those who have worked.”

Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting, Maku, said the cabinet shake-up was with immediate effect.

Maku said the President expressed satisfaction with the performance of the affected ministers while in office.