Politics
Mixed Reactions Greet Jonathan’s Dissolution Of FEC
In a similar vein, some Nigerians living in North America have cautioned Acting President against recycling old politicians when appointing new ministers.
They said the country’s executive arm of government needed the services of patriotic Nigerians to steer the ship of state to political stability and economic prosperity.
For many the dissolution of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) last Wednesday did not come as a rude shock. A lot of notable Nigerians had anticipated few weeks after he was confirmed as Acting President that Dr Goodluck Jonathan would dissolve the cabinet. But he didn’t.
So on Wednesday when Dr. Jonathan took the bold step to sack the divisive FEC, a lot of people hailed it as “long overdue”. The Acting President had few days after assuming power reshuffled the cabinet.
Prior to the action, the FEC had displayed nonchalance to the yearning of Nigerians for a decisive action to fill the vacuum left by over three months absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua recuperating at a Saudi Hospital.
The same indecisive attitude had overtaken the FEC in the past three weeks since Dr Jonathan assumed powers as Acting President. But with the divisive cabinet now finally dissolved notable Nigerians believe the coast is now clear for Jonathan to mount the ruddership of the country.
Speaking on the development, former Governor of Old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa said that the action was in furtherance of constitutionalism. “We support his action”, he declared, “our concern with the Acting President is constitutionalism. We are supporting him based on the constitution to enable him perform.
He however, pointed out that the cabinet dissolution was completely a PDP affair and the acting president must get their support and also needs the support of the National Assembly.
On his part, Executive Director of Human Rights Monitor told The Tide On Sunday that the Acting President has the constitutional right to effect changes in the administration to give it a direction and a focus.
“All his actions are deemed to have the powers of the substantive president and since the donor has not complained yet. But if the substantive president resumed office and disapproved of the dissolution, he can reverse the decision based on public interest”, Okoye said.
On the other hand, he stressed that the action was long overdue because of, “the obvious divisions, distrust, mistrust and lack of fidelity”, while some of the Ministers had lost direction and needed the sack.
The activist cautioned Jonathan against the use and recycling of what he described as the old brigade.
The Action Congress (AC) in Kaduna also said that the dissolution was a welcome development. Speaking, its publicity secretary Mohammed Soba, told reporters that it was a welcome development, as the dissolved cabinet tended to be divided and owed their loyalty to ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua rather than the nation.
Former security adviser to erstwhile Governor of Rivers State, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe told The Tide On Sunday in a telephone chat that the action is belated.
Said Chief Sara-Igbe, “What he has done is the right thing to do. The Acting President is supposed to have dissolved the cabinet for long ago”.
Chief Sara-Igbe said the action would allow the Acting President to take control of the system and therefore called on Dr. Jonathan to appoint trusted and capable hands in the new cabinet.
Asked what caliber of persons that should make up the new cabinet, the former Rivers State Security Adviser remarked, “He should appoint technocrats and most importantly the new cabinet should be a mixture of radicals and technocrats to move the country forward”.
Similarly, a Senior Lecturer in the Political Science Department of the Rivers State University of Education, Dr Godwin Dappa submitted that the dissolution “is an evolution for better political stability in Nigeria”.
For Dr. Dappa, the Acting President’s action would break the backbone of the cabal responsible for destabilising the polity, since after President Yar’Adua took ill last year.
The lecturer, who is also United Nations special envoy to Dafur declared, “I see some of those appointed in the Acting President’s Advisory Council to be potential ministers”.
He added that there was nothing wrong with picking some of the President advisers from the advisory committee, since some of them are capable and trusted hands.
In a similar vein, some Nigerians living in North America have cautioned Acting President against recycling old politicians when appointing new ministers.
They said the country’s executive arm of government needed the services of patriotic Nigerians to steer the ship of state to political stability and economic prosperity.
Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, President of Nigerian Democratic Movement, a United States based pro-democracy group said he was curious about reports that the Acting President planned to return 20 former ministers.
“I’am not sure what the new strategy of the Acting President would be, but I would be surprised if he should sack 42 ministers and bring back 20. It would then not be a cabinet dissolution but a reshuffle,” he said.
Visiting Professor at the City University of New York, Ms Adanma Eze declared, “Nigeria needs a new set of people that are presentable on the global stage”.
She called on the Acting President to give more women the opportunity to serve in the new cabinet, in the spirit of the growing global trend, which recommends active women participation in governance.
Also the leader of Niger Delta Indigenes in Ghana, Rev. Selepere Appreala has described Jonathan’s action as being in the right track to develop the nation by choosing those who will work with him and deliver the nation.
Rev. Apprenla who is also the Head Pastor of Image of God Church Ghana, said it is left for the Acting President to nominate through the National Assembly those who would work with him and be loyal.
He urged Dr Jonathan to appoint technocrats who would work with him and protect the nation’s interest.
Rev. Appreala who hails from Bayelsa State have lived in Ghana for 10 years also said the Acting President is a knowledgeable man that would do every thing to ensure the unity of he nation, as he urged that he should not fail the nation by not reforming the electoral process.
He called on him to sack Chief Maurice Iwu and appoint a man with vision and international and national credibility and integrity.
According to him, “the Acting President should urgently re-address the issue of developing the nation and also addressing the post amnesty programme that would put a stop to the violence in the region.”
Rev. Appreala however said there should be re-organisation in the NNPC and also address the imbalance in the top managements of the petroleum sector.
It would be recalled that Nigeria’s Acting President Goodluck Jonathan had last Wednesday dissolved the country’s cabinet.
Dr. Jonathan became Acting President in February amid the continuing illness of President Umaru Yar’Adua.
President Yar’Adua went to Saudi Arabia for treatment in November last year and despite returning to Nigeria recently, has not been seen in public.
The dissolved cabinet was appointed by President Yar’Adua and the Acting President is working to stamp his own authority by asserting and exercising his powers.
Alhaji Abubakar, who is also the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), stressed that Chief Obasanjo’s latest public outburst against him is yet another failed attempt to rewrite history.
Alhaji Abubakar specifically said that if the true history of Chief Obasanjo’s political journey is ever written—free from selective recollection and personal bitterness, he (Atiku) would feature prominently as one of those whom God used to change the course of his (Obasanjo) life and political career.
These were contained in a statement the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to the former Vice President, Mr Phrank Shaibu, released in which Atiku said he watched the former President’s interview with profound sadness, but not anger, because it reflected the disposition of a man who has allowed personal resentment to cloud historical truth.
Alhaji Abubakar said the genesis of Chief Obasanjo’s hostility towards him is well known to Nigerians, stressing that he is proud that he stood against the third-term agenda and stood by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In the words of Alhaji Abubakar: “I have no apology whatsoever for frustrating every attempt to subvert our democracy for personal ambition. If Chief Obasanjo’s bitterness stems from my refusal to support an unconstitutional third term, then I wear that resentment as a badge of honour.
“No individual, regardless of his status or accomplishments, is bigger than the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Constitution is supreme, and I chose Nigeria over personal loyalty”.
Alhaji Abubakar noted that the struggle against the third-term agenda was never about two individuals, but about preserving Nigeria’s constitutional democracy for future generations.
He said: “The Nigerian people won that battle. Democracy won that battle. History has already delivered its verdict. It Is therefore unfortunate that the same man whose unconstitutional ambition was resisted now seeks to sit in judgment over those who defended the Constitution”.
The ADC Presidential candidate said it was particularly instructive that barely twenty-four hours before Chief Obasanjo’s latest outburst, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, publicly paid glowing tribute to the economic management team he led, describing it as “the best Nigeria has ever had”.
“Whether or not the timing is merely coincidental is for Nigerians to judge. What is beyond dispute, however, is that while distinguished Nigerians who served at the highest levels continue to acknowledge my contributions to one of Nigeria’s most successful periods of economic management, Chief Obasanjo appears determined to diminish them.
“Chief Obasanjo may choose not to appreciate my role in building one of Nigeria’s most prosperous economic eras, but history has been far kinder. The record speaks for itself, and so do the testimonies of those who worked closely with that administration,” he said.
Alhaji Abubakar further stated that Nigerians also deserve to remember the other side of history which Chief Obasanjo conveniently omits, saying: “History records that while Chief Obasanjo was in prison, I stood firmly by him. I supported his family, worked tirelessly with other patriots for his release and never wavered in my belief that he deserved his freedom”.
He further said: “When he eventually regained his freedom, he had little to his name. I received him, clothed him, ensured he was properly cared for and extended every support necessary to help him regain his footing.
“Beyond that, I mobilised political structures, built alliances and made enormous personal and political sacrifices that culminated in his emergence as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
Alhaji Abubakar, however, said he harbours no regrets over any of those acts.
According to him: “Do I regret helping Chief Obasanjo? Absolutely not. When God gives you the opportunity to lift another human being, you do so without expecting repayment. Acts of kindness are matters of conscience, not commercial transactions”.
He added, however, that gratitude should never be replaced with revisionism.
Alhaji Abubakar particularly expressed disappointment that, at a time when Nigeria is battling economic hardship, mass unemployment, insecurity and widespread despair, a former President would devote so much energy to recycling old grudges instead of contributing solutions to the country’s challenges.
In the words of Atiku: “The 2027 election should be about rebuilding Nigeria, restoring security, reviving the economy and giving hope to the next generation—not reopening old political wounds”.
The former Vice President said he had deliberately maintained restraint over the years out of respect for the office Chief Obasanjo once occupied and in deference to the relationship they once shared.
He said: “That restraint should never be mistaken for weakness or docility. There comes a point when silence in the face of repeated distortions of history ceases to be a virtue. While I have no desire to engage in a public quarrel with a man I once stood beside in his most difficult moments, neither will I permit falsehoods, half-truths and calculated attempts to rewrite history to go unanswered.
“Chief Obasanjo is entitled to his opinions. He is entitled to his personal grievances. What he is not entitled to, are his own facts,” Alhaji Abubakar insisted.
The ADC presidential candidate reaffirmed that his attention remains firmly fixed on Nigeria’s future.
According to him; “I have chosen the path of service over resentment, vision over vendetta and national renewal over personal recrimination. Those who mistake my civility for capitulation, or my restraint for weakness, make a grave mistake.
“History is stubborn. It cannot be rewritten by bitterness, nor erased by repeated falsehoods. In the end, history will render its verdict—and so will the Nigerian people,” he stated.
According to the electoral umpire, campaigns for the presidential and National Assembly elections will commence on August 19, 2026, and end on January 15, 2027, exactly 24 hours before the elections scheduled for January 16, 2027.
INEC also announced that campaigns for governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will begin on September 9, 2026, and conclude on February 5, 2027, ahead of the polls slated for February 6, 2027.
The commission explained that the campaign schedule complies with the Electoral Act 2026, which stipulates that electioneering activities must not begin earlier than 150 days before an election and must end at least 24 hours before voting.
INEC urged political parties, candidates and other stakeholders to strictly adhere to the approved timetable and conduct their campaigns in accordance with the law, while encouraging the public to obtain electoral information only from its official communication channels to avoid misinformation.
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