AondoakaaFeb 9, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan truly took hold of Yar'Adua's government in the swapping around of members of his cabinet. In the weekly Federal Executive Council's meeting Jonathan took the Minister of Special Duties and moved him to the position of Minister of Labour and Productivity. The Minister of Labour and Productivity was moved to become the new Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice; a shady move on Jonathan's part ousting the original Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Michael Aondoakaa, hours before he was going to call a closed door meeting with his department to dissuade judicial workers from striking.
In media comments Aondoakaa and all others in government positions are publicly supportive of this switch. Things are less calm beneath the surface though. Immediately following the meeting, workers in the Ministry of Justice met in small groups to discuss in hushed tones the switch. Says one worker "I know Oga, he will surely resign from this appointment because I don’t think he will like to act as the Minister of Special Duties after holding sway in Nigerian politics for such a long time. What will he be doing there? This is like being relegated to obscurity."
During the meeting armed guards were sent to the Ministry of Justice to fence it off and subject everything removed to intense scrutiny.
In media comments Aondoakaa and all others in government positions are publicly supportive of this switch. Things are less calm beneath the surface though. Immediately following the meeting, workers in the Ministry of Justice met in small groups to discuss in hushed tones the switch. Says one worker "I know Oga, he will surely resign from this appointment because I don’t think he will like to act as the Minister of Special Duties after holding sway in Nigerian politics for such a long time. What will he be doing there? This is like being relegated to obscurity."
During the meeting armed guards were sent to the Ministry of Justice to fence it off and subject everything removed to intense scrutiny.
Considering Jonathan was pushed into acting president because the governors wanted stability and to avoid a military coup, he's certainly creating quite a bit of unrest. Hopefully he has the best interests of Nigeria at heart.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed that the consensus was that this reshuffling was within the purview of Jonathan's Presidential powers and was even warranted. Andoakaa is apparently a corrupt denizen of Yar'Adua and has only been detrimental to Nigeria's fledgling democracy. Also, the guy was basically the lone voice against the appointment of GJ as acting president so GJ may just be exacting a little bit of political retribution.
ReplyDeleteevidence of Andoakaa's corrupt tendencies:
http://www.nigeriancuriosity.com/2010/01/ibori-case-dismissed.html
also the business about DOJ employees gathering in small groups to discuss the reshuffling in hushed tones shouldn't be taken out of context as evidence of some great undercurrent of dissatisfaction suffusing the Nigerian government. They were Andoakaa's aides and if he was subjected to GJ's political fist, they were probably worried about their own necks. What's all this talk about possible military coups anyway?
ReplyDeleteBut Brian...coups and scandals are SO much more interesting...
ReplyDelete