President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday sacked the Minister of
Youth Development, Mr. Inuwa Abdulkadir, and directed him to hand over to the
permanent secretary in the ministry.
No reason was given for the removal, but National Mirror
gathered that the minister’s sack might not be unconnected with the outcome of
the recent controversial election of new executives of the National Youth
Council of Nigeria, NYCN.
The President, however, thanked Abdulkadir for his contributions
to the transformation agenda of the present administration.
In a statement entitled, “Termination of the appointment of the
Honourable Minister of Youth Development”, and signed by the Special Assistant
on Media to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SFG, Mr. Sam
Nwaobasi, the President also wished Abdulkadir success in his future
endeavours.
The statement reads in part: “His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan, President and Commander- in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal
Republic of Nigeria, has relieved Inuwa Abdulkadir, of his appointment as the
Honourable Minister of Youth Development with effect from August 26, 2013.
“The former minister is to hand over to the permanent secretary,
Federal Ministry of Youth Development. “Mr. President expresses appreciation to
the former minister for the time he put in the services of the nation and
wishes him success in his future endeavours.”
The minister and the Presidency had been accused of foisting a
cardcarrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who is also an aide
to the Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, on the NYCN even when there was a
subsisting court order against the conduct of the election.
The minister was also reported to have orchestrated the movement
of the NYCN congress from Ondo to Benue State. The defunct Action Congress of
Nigeria, ACN, had specifically accused the former minister of facilitating the
exercise.
According to the ACN, “When some aspirants obtained a court
injunction stopping the election, the NYCN trustees advised that the congress
should be called off because of the court order.
The delegates had hardly departed Benue State when the minister
allegedly started writing the names of selected government candidates as
winners of an election that did not hold. “The names of the ‘winners’ were
subsequently sent, purely for information sake, to the delegates who had
already left after the congress was cancelled.
“The result of the shenanigans orchestrated by the Presidency
and the PDP is the crisis now rocking the NYCN, with two persons laying claim
to the organisation’s presidency. This is an uncanny resemblance to what
happened to the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, again with the Presidency and
the PDP being fingered as the culprit”. Outgone NYCN President, Mr. Wale Ajani,
had also advised the minister to steer clear of the politics of the council,
saying “The only thing that I have to say is: ‘Mr. Minister, I was elected, so
kindly allow my successor to be elected too’. We are not fighting with the
minister, all we are asking is that due process be followed.”
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