The Ogun State Governor, Senator
Ibikunle Amosun, saturday said the open declaration of support for
former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar by the Minister of Women Affairs
and Social Development, Senator Aisha Alhassan, could affect the
minister’s contribution to the vision and development of the Muhammadu
Buhari government...
Amosun, who described the situation as
disappointing, however, noted that while he admired Alhassan’s courage
for openly coming out to side with Atiku, she should have also followed
through such an act of courage by honourably resigning her position as
minister.
Alhassan had last week, during a Sallah
homage to the former vice-president, said she would support Atiku and
not Buhari in the 2019 presidential election, while at the same time
reiterating her commitment to the Buhari presidency.
But the Ogun governor, who spoke in
Abeokuta yesterday found the development preposterous, saying while he
saluted Alhassan’s courage, the minister should have first resigned
before even making such statement.
According to him, “Though she is
entitled to her own opinion at any point in time, she should have just
resigned her appointment, because her loyalty cannot be in two places.
Her falling short of resigning takes everything away from what she said
and it is clear that she will no longer be contributing to the
development of the present administration.”
On whether or not the president would
seek re-election in 2019, the governor said, “The only thing that can
prevent President Muhammadu Buhari from contesting is if his health
cannot take it.
“If not for this present administration,
only God knows where Nigeria would have been. When the government came
on board, it was like jumping into the pool at the deep end,” he added.
It was against this backdrop that Amosun
scored the federal government high in its fight against insurgency,
insecurity, corruption as well as efforts at economic recovery through
serious diversification drive.
In another interview with the BBC,
Amosun insisted that since no one could faithfully serve two masters, it
would have been more honourable for Alhassan to resign after making
that public statement.
The Ogun governor said the minister
should have been courageous enough to quit, adding: “You cannot blow
both hot and cold at the same time. She (Alhassan) is entitled to her
opinion but I would have saluted her if she had honourably resigned her
appointment, because you cannot blow both hot and cold at the same time.
“Yes, I would have saluted her if she
had resigned but falling short of resigning has taken everything away
from what she had said.”
Asked if the president should sack her
since he could no longer trust her loyalty, Amosun said, “Well, I am not
Mr. President and I know that at the appropriate time, he will review
things.
“For somebody to have come out and say
such thing means clearly she is even working against the government and
she will not want that government to succeed, yes, that is my own
believe although I may be wrong, however, if I were in her shoes, I
would have resigned after making that statement,” Amosun added.
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