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Oshiomhole vows to expel ‘rebel’ ministers if…

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Ngige set to battle Victor Umeh over Senate seat

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, may soon be sacked as a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party’s national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, on Monday threatened that the minister would be suspended from the party should he insist on not inaugurating boards of parastatals under his ministry.

The board members were appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari several months ago.

Among ministers facing a similar threat is the minister of State (Aviation), Hadi Sirika, who it was learnt is yet to inaugurate some boards under his ministry

Oshiomhole’s statement came following a running battle he has been having with Ngige over the inauguration of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) board.

Earlier, the APC national chairman had in a letter to Ngige, asked the minister to inaugurate all board members appointed under his ministry.

But replying, Ngige had explained that he had inaugurated three boards in the ministry but was not in a hurry to inaugurate that of NSITF due to an alleged N40 billion corruption scandal by the former board.

However Oshiomhole, when asked to comment on the matter by State House correspondents on Monday said, “If the minister refuses we will suspend him from the party.”

Noting that the APC had resolved to return to internal discipline, he added, “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.”

Also saying that Ngige was not appointed as an independent candidate, Oshiomhole argued, “no minister is above the party and they have taken undue advantage of the president’s fatherly disposition.”

According to him, the refusal 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.

On other ministers like the Minister of State (Aviation), Sirika, who is said was yet to inaugurate some boards under his ministry, Oshiomhole 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.

READ ALSO : Why we’re begging R-APC, others not to dump APC —Abdullahi

“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.

“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.

 

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