President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice-
President Namadi Sambo and many
ministers have concluded plans to
travel abroad shortly after the May
29 inauguration of a new
government.
While Jonathan had said he would
travel out of the country for a much
deserved rest after the May 29
inauguration, Sambo is planning to
travel to London on May 31, two
days after the inauguration of
Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s
new President.
It was learnt that the Minister of
Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
had also concluded plans to return
to the US after the President elect’s
inauguration. However, her
Petroleum Resources counterpart,
Mrs.Diezani Allison-Madueke, has
already travelled out of the
country.
Though sources close to the
minister said she would return to
the country to attend the last
Federal Executive Council meeting
of President Jonathan’s
administration, the minister would
leave the country after the FEC
meeting.
A senior Presidency official, who
spoke on the condition of
anonymity, however, told one of
our correspondents that the vice-
president was planning to rest in
London.
According to him, Sambo will only
rest for about two weeks abroad
before returning to the country.
The Senior Special Assistant to the
Vice-President on Media and
Publicity, Umar Sani, however, said
the planned trip could not be
attributed to any fear of
persecution by the incoming
government.
Sani said if Sambo was afraid of
Buhari, he would have left the
country before the May 29
inauguration day.
He said, “There is nothing to fear.
Vice-President Namadi Sambo is
not afraid of any persecution or
victimisation by the incoming
government. His planned trip has
nothing to do with fear. If he is
afraid of anything, he would have
gone before May 29.”
Like Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of
Health, Dr. Khaliru Alhassan, also
planned to travel abroad, but he
said he would leave for the
ongoing World Health Assembly in
Geneva, Switzerland.
He stressed that he would be back
in the country when the exercise is
over.
When asked if the trip was to avoid
Buhari’s manhunt for perceived
corrupt public officials, the minister
said, “It is strange to me and I have
not heard anything like that.”
But the Minister of Education,
Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, said no
amount of road block could stop
him from travelling to any country
of his choice.
Shekarau also dared the incoming
administration to proceed and
mount a checkpoint for him in the
crusade against corruption, adding
that he had nothing to hide.
His Special Assistant (Media and
Communications), Mr. Nnamdi
Olebara, said, “Shekarau has no
skeleton in his cupboard; if he is
travelling, it is not because of any
arrest because he has nothing to
fear.
“Anybody who knows Shekarau
right from ages knows that he has
nothing to fear. Asking of when he
will travel is digging into
somebody’s privacy. Let Buhari
mount a checkpoint if he knows
that Shekarau has committed any
crime.
“If Shekarau is going to his
mother’s house, he doesn’t need
any permission; if he is going to
Saudi (Arabia), he doesn’t need
anybody’s permission. He is not
escaping to anywhere because he
has nothing to fear. He is a
committed patriot who has
revolutionised the education
sector, brought sanity and a lot of
development.”
The Minister of National Planning,
Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, said there
was nothing wrong for members of
Jonathan’s cabinet to travel abroad
after the May 29 inauguration of the
new government to rest.
He said though he would be
returning to the classroom as a
lecturer at the University of Abuja,
there was no reason for anybody to
think that any member of the
current administration that travels
out after May 29 is afraid of probe.
In a telephone interview with one
of our correspondents in Ilorin on
Friday, he explained that it is
normal for people to take rest
outside the country after strenuous
political and administrative
engagements.
He also said none of them is afraid
that the incoming administration
would jail them.
Sulaiman said, “I am not travelling
out. I am a lecturer. After May 29, I
will resume work at the University
of Abuja.
“There is nothing anybody can do.
This is democracy for God’s sake
and there is rule of law. People
have liberty, right and freedom to
seek redress. Nobody can
intimidate anybody. If Jonathan has
worked for five or six years, there is
nothing bad for him to take a rest
outside the country. If Sambo has
worked for four years, there is
nothing wrong in him taking a rest;
so also the ministers. Taking a rest
is good for everybody.
“Taking a rest is not borne out of
any fear that the incoming
government is going to witch-hunt
anybody. I am not afraid of probe. If
anybody wants to ask questions,
there are procedures to do so. The
era of putting people in jail cannot
come again. It is gone forever. We
have a right to live and go and rest
anywhere and when there is time
for questions, we can come back
and answer them. I do not think
that people are leaving the country
for fear of being probed.”
But the Minister of State for Foreign
Affairs, Musiliu Obanikoro, plans to
travel abroad for a two-week
vacation after May 29.
Obanikoro, who spoke with one of
our correspondents on Friday, said
he might go to Ghana or South
Africa or the United States to take “a
deserved rest.”
He said, “I think it is a wise thing to
take a rest after all said and done. I
will start with a six-week executive
course in Harvard University and I
will follow this up in August by
starting a degree course in History
at the same prestigious
institution.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Industry,
Trade and Investment, Mr.
Olusegun Aganga; Minister of
Information, Senator Patricia
Akwashiki, and their Foreign Affairs
counterpart, Amb. Aminu Wali, ruled
out plan to leave the country for
fear of prosecution.
Aganga, who spoke through his
Special Adviser on Communications,
Mrs. Yemi Kolapo, said, “The
minister has been in office since all
this while and he is currently in
Lagos meeting with some
businessmen. So, there is no reason
to do that.”
Also the Special Assistant to the
Information Minister on Media, Mr.
Joseph Mutah, said Akwashiki would
not leave the country because of
the fear of the incoming
government.
He said, “Why would she travel out
of the country because another
government is coming to power?
The minister will remain here
before and after the inauguration
of the new government.”
The spokesperson for the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Ahmedu Ogbole-
Ode, was emphatic that Wali did
not plan to travel out of the
country.
“Where is he going to? He has no
plan to go to anywhere, he is
staying put in the country, you can
quote me on that,” Ogbole-Ode
said.
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
