President Bola Tinubu is set to effect a massive cabinet shake up that will see no fewer than 10 ministers relieved of their jobs......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
According to sources who spoke with The Eagle Online, the shake up will take place as soon as President Tinubu returns to Nigeria.
The Eagle Online was also told that the President will likely return to Nigeria on Friday (today) after his trip to China and a stop-over in the United Kingdom, where he had a meeting with King Charles.
It was equally gathered that a former Minister, Sunday Dare, has been lobbying to join the cabinet of President Tinubu and may end up replacing the former Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, who quit the job last week.
One of the sources told The Eagle Online on Thursday: “No fewer than 10 ministers will leave the cabinet.
“The number, however, keeps hovering between 10 and 15.”
When asked for the names of those that could be affected in the cabinet shake-up, the sources said nothing is cast in stone yet.
One of them added: “The names keep changing from time to time.
“But there are some names that have remained consistently on that list.
“So nothing is cast in stone yet.
“We are still waiting to see the final list that will be presented to the President on his arrival in Nigeria.
“Serious lobbying is ongoing as we speak.”
The Eagle Online was equally told that the ambition of Dare was to join the Tinubu government as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.
However, Dare, who served as Minister of Youth and Sports from 2019 to 2023 during the regime of former President Muhammadu Buhari, might end up as the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity.
The ambition of Dare, who was the spokesman of Tinubu before joining the Buhari administration, is being bolstered by the push of the former Interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Bisi Akande.
The Eagle Online was told that the decision to settle for the position of a Special Adviser was arrived at after that of the Minister was said to be uncertain and the decision of Ngelale to quit.
A source told The Eagle Online: “What Baba Akande has been pushing for on behalf of Dare, who had a hard time convincing him to join Tinubu’s cabinet, was for him to be made a minister.
“But with the exit of Ngelale, attention seems to have shifted to that of the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity.
“Apart from being a low hanging fruit, it is also a cabinet position and he has served Tinubu before as his publicist.”
But it was gathered that getting the position of the Special Adviser by Dare is even not certain as a Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Tunde Rahman, is favoured for it.
Rahman, who succeeded Dare as Tinubu’s media aide when he left to join the Buhari administration, is said to have a better rapport with the President and the media than he does.
A source said: “Rahman’s strengths are that he is a damn good writer, associates seamlessly with his colleagues in the media, and is one of the few people in the Presidential Villa who is tenacious when it comes to talking to the President when there are burning issues.
“He has been doing that since he was with Tinubu as his media aide before he became the president.
“That was why his choice as a member of the President’s media team when he emerged victorious in the 2023 polls was regarded as a fait accompli.”