Appointees have today to resign or risk APC disqualification

• FG releases detailed categories of persons expected to resign

• Emefiele meets Buhari, says there will be news soon

• Political appointees sue APC, INEC over disqualification threats

• Afenifere: You’ve done well by asking appointees to resign but apply same decisiveness to insecurity, ASUU

MINISTERS affected by the presidential directive to resign after declaring their interest to contest in 2023 general elections have today to turn in their resignation letters inspite of President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive giving an ultimatum ending Monday, May 16.

This is because, in the adjusted schedule of activities and timetable of the All Progressives Congress ( APC), today is the last day for submission of completed forms and accompanying documents, while screening of aspirants for all the offices is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday and the publication of screening results to be done on Monday.

It was gathered that members of the Federal Executive Council ( FEC) with political aspirations may have to appear before the APC screening committee with copies of their letters of resignation and acknowledgement as part of the additional stipulations aspirants are expected to comply with.

Hours after the presidential directive, the Federal Government, yesterday, released detailed list of categories of political appointees who are expected to resign from their positions on or before Monday. The latest directive was contained in a circular with Ref. No. SGF/ OP/ I/ S. 3/ XII/ 173, signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, and dated May 11.

According to the circular, the affected persons include all ministers, heads and members of extra- ministerial departments, agencies and parastatals of government, ambassadors, as well as other political ap

pointees, who desire to contest for elective offices.

The SGF directed that the concerned ministers hand over to ministers of state where they exist or to the permanent secretary, where there is no minister of state, for smooth running of the machinery of government and foreign missions.

According to Mustapha, “Ambassadors shall hand over to their deputy heads of mission or the most senior foreign service officer in line with established practices while heads of extra- ministerial departments, agencies and parastatals are to hand over to the most senior director/ officer as may be peculiar to the organisation, in line with the service wide Circular No. SGF. 50/ S. Il/ C. 2/ 268 of December 4, 2017. The contents of this circular and the incidental directives take effect immediately.”

Some of the ministers and heads of agencies, who have indicated interest in contesting election but yet to resign are: Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige; Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva;

Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development, Uche Ogar; and Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen.

Others are governor of Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN), Godwin Emefiele; DirectorGeneral of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting ( NSPM), Abbas Masanawa; Director- General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency ( SMEDAN), Dikko Umar Radda among others.

Amaechi was said to have resigned on Wednesday night. However, a tweet from his aide, Israel Ibeleme, debunked the report. When contacted yesterday, the aide said his boss was in the office yesterday ( Thursday), but would drop his resignation today or tomorrow.

Speaking last night on Channels TV’S Politics Today, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said the law supports the position of President Buhari on resignation order of political appointees and it is with immediate effect.

He stated that the President’s directive came at the appropriate time, noting that there is need for those who have signified their intention to run for political offices to concentrate on their ambition, adding that it is important that work of governance does not suffer setbacks.

He said: “There is nothing as good as an idea whose time has come. The President made the announcement at the right time. The FEC meeting had been held and we were closing, when the president addressed the gathering that some were interested in running for the position of the President, and he said it is advisable that those who have collected forms tender their resignations.

“This is so that those who have signified their intention to run could concentrate on their ambition. If they are running their ministry and also running their political campaign, they can’t concentrate, so it was in their interest that the President said that. It is also in the interest of government so that governance will not suffer.

“There is also the legal angle, though it has not been fully determined yet, but we know that there is the danger of everything being voided if APC is not careful. There is a popular Section 84( 12) of the Electoral Act. It is not fully determined now but what if the highest court in the land determines it and it ruins the party, so it’s safer to be on the side of caution.

“When a President speaks, he has the force of law behind it, the president doesn’t have to bark. I am sure nobody will wait to be beaten over this, it’s law already and has taken effect.” T

HE pan- Yoruba socio- political organisation, Afenifere, yesterday, expressed satisfaction with President Buhari over the directive. National Publicity Secretary of the body, Mr. Jare Ajayi, stated that the directive and promptness of its execution have demonstrated that he could be decisive where and when he wants to and on matters that touch his heart.

The Afenifere spokesman called on the President to apply the same decisiveness with which he charged his appointees to resign to tackle the myriads of challenges that the country is facing to

mary election because of the presence of the request for a Letter of Voluntary withdrawal on page 18 of the nomination form.

“I cannot, in all honesty, rally funds from my supporters in the hope that we will be having a primary election, then sign a postdated letter of voluntary withdrawal from the contest.”

After announcing his decision not to buy the APC presidential nomination form, Garba yesterday dumped the party, alleging that it has “lost its moral bearings.

“I cannot continue to retain membership of a party that favours money beyond competency, vested interest beyond common interest, chronic elitism beyond public good, politics of exclusion beyond inclusion.

“I do not in all honesty, sincerely and with consciousness believe that any young man in Nigeria has a future or model worthy of emulation for the benefit of Nigeria in APC. I believe the party has drifted so much from the original beliefs of its foundation to something more cynical, undemocratic institution,” he said, though he has not announced the party he would be joining.

Economics and developmental experts are worried over sources of political funds, insisting that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS) urgently begin investigating into sources of fund of politicians as well as their tax records.

Coming in the days of extreme hardship for the masses, some stakeholders have described as obscene the crave for nominations, insisting that it remained a slap on the faces of innocent hardworking Nigerians who would never see such sums in their entire lives.

“No one should pay such an amount without showing how they earned it,” Patrick Okigbo, who heads Abujabased Nextier Advisory said. According to him, at the very least, politicians must submit their tax returns and let auditors in the opposition party comb through it to validate that aspirants could afford such an amount.

Okigbo demanded reform in campaign financing, stressing that no groups or friends should be allowed to pay that much of money on behalf of their friends.

“It is for this reason that various western countries put limit to how much an individual or organisation should contribute to a party or candidate,” he said.

Economic expert at PWC, Habeeb Jaiyeola, noted that while attention of politicians have shifted to election at the detriment of developmental issues, government decisions are already becoming politically motivated instead of focusing on the economic benefits for the country.

Team Lead ( Research and Policy) Nextier SPD, Dr Ndubisi Nwokolo, noted that there was a political economy dimension to the sale of forms by the two dominant parties in the country.

While using previous experiences as a benchmark,

Nwokolo said the parties are using these long list of aspirants to build a war chest for the campaigns, adding that, it “looks like sheer corruption, finding a way to circumvent the rule on party financing and elections.”

The development according to him would have implications on the economy considering that “majority of the fees paid are drawn from the country’s treasury by one way or the other.”

An International Development Consultant, Micheal Uzoigwe, stated that the prevailing situation only confirms that the moment most politicians get into positions they begin to mop finance for their next position.

“That war chest is something that would have been amassed using public position. There are people we know have no clear businesses that can generate that amount of money. So, Nigerians need to ask questions around how these resources are being mobilised.”

Executive Director, Centre for Transparency Advocacy, Faith Nwadishi, said: “The money for the purchase of nomination form is just the beginning. They have to pay delegates at primaries. They have to settle party hierarchy. To whosoever that wins, the first thing is to recover that money. This is investment for them. This is why corruption and nepotism will never stop in this country,” she said.

An economic expert, Prof Godwin Oyedokun, noted that the prevailing situation would drastically affect the economy and national development.