Odigie-Oyegun
Odigie-Oyegun: ‘I’m not keen to be SGF’
President Muhammadu Buhari is rigorously scrutinising his would-be ministers hence the delay in announcing his team, All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chair John Odigie-Oyegun, said yesterday.
Odigie-Oyegun also dispelled speculations that he is gunning for the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) along with some top members of his party.
“On this issue of SGF, I will respond to you just in case, because I don’t want to offend anybody, but I will say this quite definitely. I have not in anyway, in capital letters and underlined, solicited for any position other than the national chairmanship of APC. I think I’m clear enough, isn’t it? And nobody has approached me on that or say he is considering me for that position or another.”
Oyegun said the party was interested in the ability of the people the President will appoint to bring about ideas that will help achieve his set objectives and deliver on what he wants.
The APC Chairman said the President is open to picking people from all walks of life as ministers especially if those people subscribe passionately to his agenda to move the country forward, whether they are members of the party or not.
He said: “There is absolutely no dispute between the party and the president. We agreed that we shall use all manner of people: politicians, technocrats, all manner of people, even if not politicians, who can deliver and who subscribe passionately to the agenda of the president, to move this country forward, irrespective of where the people come from; irrespective of whether the person is a card-carrying members of the party.
“What is important is the qualification of the person and the ability of the person to deliver on the ideas of Mr. President. What we are interested in is the ability of the people to bring up the ideas that will help Mr. President to achieve the set objectives and the ability to deliver on what the President wants.
“Secondly, this is an executive function and the President has the right to consult as widely as possible. This means he might pick people within the party and people outside the party. It is a prerogative the President should exercise and we cannot question that. We are quite happy about the way he is proceeding.
“We have a very capable president. He is capable as ever. The President is a very careful man. He wants to be sure the kind of people he will appoint are people who are passionate about the country.
“What is really important is the speed of the delivery of his policies. You can see that things are already improving. You can see in the electricity front, the supply of petroleum, etc. They are not connected. What the president is doing is to conduct a very thorough check on the background of the people he will appoint”
On speculations that the ambition of some party leaders was holding back the President, Oyegun said “No. I don’t think that will hold him back at all. Like he said, he said he belongs to everybody and he belongs to nobody. They should just be patient. He does not want to make avoidable mistakes.
“What is important is to see whether on a daily basis, your life is improving. Everything that can be done in these few days are being done and the effect is being felt already.
The Nation
