BY VICTOR BUORO, ABUJA – President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday directed his Ministers contesting for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of 2023 General Elections to tender their resignation.
The President however acknowledged the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Emeka Nwajiuba for braving the odds to quit his membership of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), to avoid conflict of interest.
Some of the Ministers that constitute members of the FEC that include the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Labour, Chris Ngige, Niger Delta – Godswil Akpabio, Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipreye Sylva, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele among others are seeking to be Governors, President and members of the National Assembly. Emefiele is however not a member of the FEC.
It was gathered that the ruling of the Court of Appeal which set aside the judgement of the Federal High Court, Umuahia, Abia State may have spurned President Buhari into issuing the marching order to the Ministers that were busy trying to seek clarifications of how they were affected in view of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022.
Forefront News gathered that President Buhari gave the Ministers aspiring for various elective offices but did not want to leave office quit notice almost at the end of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council.
The President was quoted to have said that he had received the resignation of the Minister of State for Education Prof. Nwajiuba seeking to be President and wondered what others seeking different offices were still waiting for.
Buhari further said; “I expect other members of this Council seeking to be President to resign with immediate effect.”
It was however not clear if the presidential directive was general in content or only targeted at those aspiring for the presidency but Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022 is unambiguous with regards to political appointees seeking to contest elections at any level.
