Goodluck May Drop Five More Ministers

President Goodluck Jonathan may soon offload five more ministers from his cabinet just as he swore in 11 new ministers confirmed by the Senate last Tuesday.

Those confirmed as ministers include former National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Aliyu Mohammed Gusau (Zamfara), Senator Musiliu Obanikoro (Lagos), former Adamawa State governor, Boni Haruna (Adamawa), Hon. Mohammed Wakil (Borno), Amb Aminu Wali (Kano), Mrs. Akon Etim Eyakenyi (Akwa Ibom) and Mrs. Laurentia Labaran Mallam (Kaduna).

The rest are Dr. Khaliru Alhassan (Sokoto), Alhajk Abduljelili Oyewale Adesiyan (Osun), Dr. T. W. Danagogo (Rivers) and Asabe Asmau Ahmed (Niger).

Sources said that in the quest to “rejuvenate his cabinet ahead of the 2015 general elections,” the President is considering a further tinkering with the cabinet.

The action, would be on two flanks: the first is the need to convince Nigerians that the Jonathan administration is serious about fighting corruption and the other is that Nigerians should still trust the PDP government to deliver democracy dividends.

Some of the ministers to be off-loaded have been with this administration since 2010 while two others joined in 2011. Out of the five ministers, three are big-wigs in the administration from the South as they head Grade A ministries while the other two are from the North.

One of the ministers was said to have performed “below expectation such that the sensitive ministry has not been able to come to grips with how to deliver democracy dividends to Nigerians…”

Others were simply said to have “no electoral value and their hands have been caught in the pie, more often than not…” In another instance, one of the ministers reportedly embarrassed the Federal Government with his conduct with international investors, who were approached through a third party for bribe.

The matter reportedly got to the attention of the President, who was persuaded not to take immediate action as it might have a negative effect on the government.

Others simply failed the performance evaluation set by the President for them last year while some were also regarded as “controversial.

“A number of the affected ministers have been piling up pressure on some influential Nigerians who have the ears of the President. These ministers have even formed the habit of tracing them to their homes, all in a bid to save their jobs,” a source said.

One of the affected ministers recently met with a statesman, regarded as a staunch ally of Mr. President to survive the impending hammer. Sources, however, stated that the statesman simply retorted: “Please, minister, I cannot help you,” and urged him to “clear yourself of any charge before the President who is your employer…”