A close ally of President Goodluck Jonathan, Tony Uranta, has lashed out at the president over the composition of his cabinet, saying a lot of his ministers and special advisers are dead woods.
He urged Mr. Jonathan to urgently reshuffle the cabinet if he wants to deliver effective service to the Nigerian people
Mr. Uranta spoke last night as one of the three guests on Channels TV political programme, Politics Today, which focused on the level of service delivery at the federal level.
Answering a question, Mr. Uranta said Mr. Jonathan needs to speed things up in the country and govern in a more accountable and transparent manner.
“I’m saying while I’m of the school that President Jonathan has to speed things up, I’m also of the school that you should not give a dog a bad name so as to hang it,” he said. “He has to do a lot of things more visibly, accountably and transparently. He must reshuffle his cabinet. There are lots of dead woods in there.”
He cited the example of the presidential assistant on Millennium Develpoment Goals, Precious Gbenol, saying she had been completely anonymous, creating the impression she had not been working.
He said, “The SA on MDG. Amina Ibrahim was SA on MDG for quite some years. We knew her. We saw what she was doing. I don’t even know the name of this young lady who is SA MDG because she’s not been seen. And if you are not seen, it is not enough for you to tell me you are working behind the scene. Because you are a public office and you must be transparent.”
Then with a tone of finality, Mr. Uranta repeated, “He must reshuffle his cabinet if he wants to get better results.”
Mr. Uranta is a core loyalist of the president and his open criticism of the President came as a surprise to many.
He has unhindered access to the president, and is believed to have carried out many hatchet jobs for the presidency in the past.
But his comments resonate with critics of the administration most of whom have lambasted the president for being slow and corrupt.
Analysts believe Mr. Uranta’s comment was suggestive of a crack in the president’s inner cirle.
JD:I honestly dont know what to make out of this now for Uranta,a strong loyalist and ally of the President,stoutly defended him on the alams issue which all right thinking people all over the world roundly condemned.Is there a crack in the presidents inner caucus ?Obviously for this to happen there is.Question is has Uranta seen the writing on the wall and is now trying to distance himself from this government,or could this be some subtle blackmail very much like what we saw Asari do sometime ago?Maybe ,maybe not.what we certainly do know is that crack or not, this goverment doesnt seem poised to lead nigerians to any salvation,in fact if you ask me the gear is in reverse
I think I agree with you that this man might have been sidelined and was trying to send signals that I can spill the beans or rather join opposing forces if you stop giving my entitlements as a strong supporter of Mr. President.
Reshufflement is very good. I support Tony Uranta for the suggestion. But left for me, it is better for us to apply force. Let’s take this cabinet to Ghana and make it learn a lesson from Ghanarian history. I mean, cabinet cannot be stronger than us, the people. If they are dead woods, let’s gather them like bunch and set them on fire just like it happened in Ghana. We can’t continue like this in Nigeria.
Reshufflement is very good. I support Tony Uranta for the suggestion. But let for me, it is better for us to apply force. Let’s take this cabinet to Ghana and make it learn a lesson from Ghanarian history. I mean, cabinet cannot be stronger than us, the people. If they are dead woods, let’s gather them like bunch and set them on fire just like it happened in Ghana. We can’t continue like this in Nigeria.