By Our Reporter
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has washed his hands off alleged sleaze and mismanagement of the country’s petroleum resources, insisting that he never took the position of Petroleum Minister.
President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga made claim while speaking for the president on Channels Television.
Onanuga made the clarification amidst growing calls from some quarters for president Tinubu to step down as de facto Oil Minister, a portfolio he allegedly reserved for himself from inception along with being President.
Tinubu, like his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, had refused to appoint someone into the position of Petroleum Minister.
Recall that former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo appointed himself Petroleum Minister for six of the eight years he was President (1999-2005), while Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua named Rilwan Lukman Petroleum Minister during his presidency (2008-2010), and Goodluck Jonathan picked Diezani Alison-Madueke for it during his own time as President.
Tinubu has two Ministers of State for Petroleum – one for Oil (Heineken Lokpobiri) and one for Gas (Ekperikpe Ekpo). But he has not appointed anyone as Petroleum Minister.
So it is logical to believe that Tinubu is following the example set by Buhari that he is automatically Petroleum Minister, even though he left room for denial since he did not formally announce it.
While speaking on Channels Television on Sunday, Onanuga claimed that the Petroleum Ministry has two Ministers supervised by President Tinubu and the the idea of Tinubu operating as Petroleum Minister was a media creation.
Hear him: “The President has never called himself the Minister of Petroleum; it’s you people in the media. We have two Ministers and as far as this President is concerned, we have two ministers of petroleum, and one of them focuses on gas,” he said.
“That’s an area that this government discovered in the past that Nigeria neglected and Nigeria is more of a gas country than an oil country; President Tinubu is focusing on gas.
“Recently, Obasanjo said he made a mistake during his time by not focusing on gas and Tinubu is rectifying that by making sure we focus on gas. The president supervises all his ministers; he’s in charge of everything.”
