How a minister undermined me at FEC – Lai Mohammed

Former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has narrated how considered one of his cupboard colleagues within the Administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari, unfairly criticised him through the weekly Federal Government Council (FEC) assembly.

He gave the account in his just lately inaugurated guide, “Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments that Outlined an Administration”, which chronicled his experiences as a minister beneath the Buhari’s administration.

Mohammed stated the previous minister, whom he didn’t title however described as being from the South-West area, did run him down by accusing him of incompetence, understanding absolutely he was not current on the assembly.

“I used to be in Washington DC for the standard biannual engagements with the worldwide media and suppose tanks.

“As I later learnt, a minister from the south-west had complained that, whereas the administration was doing a terrific job, the minister of data was not doing sufficient to showcase its achievements.

“The President, I used to be advised, would have none of it.

“Based on these current, the President instantly interjected and defended me, stating that, I’ve been doing a terrific job defending the administration from throughout the Atlantic.

“He advised the Council that he had simply been watching a few of my engagements within the tv, the place I used to be strongly projecting the administration’s achievements.

“There may have been no stronger defence and presidential pat on the again,” he stated.

Mohammed famous that, all through his time as a minister, President Buhari didn’t simply reward him when he did nicely but additionally defend him when mandatory.

The previous minister narrated one other incidence within the guide, when he was petitioned of wrongdoing, however Buhari defended him earlier than ordering investigations.

“At some point after I went to see the President in his workplace, I observed that his Aide-de-Camp (ADC) appeared a bit uneasy when he noticed me.

“After some time, he gathered the braveness and stated:

“Oga, I’ve a confession to make. Any person wrote a petition in opposition to you, and I forwarded the petition to the President after a lot strain.

“Then, the President regarded on the petition and stated, “Lai? I don’t consider it.”

“However he nonetheless despatched it out for investigation. When the report got here again, you had been discovered to be clear,” he narrated within the guide.

Based on the previous minister, all through his tenure within the cupboard, he couldn’t bear in mind the President ever turning down any request he made.

Mohammed, nevertheless, narrated one other incidence, which got here near the late President rejecting his request.

He wrote: “On January 23, 2018, former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote a extensively publicised open letter, strongly criticising the Buhari administration and urging the president to not search re-election.

Anticipating backlash, Obasanjo stated he anticipated “reward singers and employed attackers to return after him”.

The previous minister stated, Buhari, out of respect for Obasanjo as a senior within the army, didn’t need any of his aides to reply to the letter.

“I had mentioned with Femi Adesina, the necessity for us to reply, however he firmly advised me that the president has instructed that nobody ought to reply.

“Based on him Obasanjo is the President’s senior within the army, and he wouldn’t need anybody to insult him on his behalf”.

Mohammed stated, regardless of Adesina’s cautionary phrases, he nonetheless went to the President to attempt to persuade him of the necessity to reply.

Based on the previous minister, Buhari insisted that nobody ought to reply.

“I advised him politely however firmly that this was about Nigeria and that we owed it an obligation to reply.

“There was virtually a heated debate- one thing that has by no means occurred between the President and me.

“After a lot backwards and forwards, the President reluctantly gave me the go-ahead.

“I went in to concern a prolonged assertion, all alongside remembering his admonition that nobody ought to insult the previous president and conscious of the truth that he solely gave me approval as a result of he didn’t need to say no to me.

“Luckily, I didn’t disappoint him,” he wrote within the guide.

Mohammed recalled that Buhari later counseled him on the matured {and professional} approach he wrote the response to Obasanjo’s letter.

He added that quite a few individuals rang the President and stated, “Lai Mohammed has finished job”.

The previous minister additionally recalled one other incidence when he wished to take a workforce of native and worldwide journalists to the territories that the army had retaken from Boko Haram in 2015.

Based on him, with the whole lot set, he received a last-minute shocker from the then Minister of Defence, who stated that the journey may solely proceed if he received the President’s approval.

He stated the Defence minister had argued that since males and platforms had been to be deployed for the journey, the President should approve of the journey.

“I rapidly contacted the Chief of Staff to the President who thankfully was in a position to attain the President in South Africa the place he was attending a gathering.

“The President gave his approval for the journey, even after I had not beforehand mentioned with him,” he wrote.

To additional buttress Buhari’s admiration and assist for him as minister, Mohammed stated the late President all the time devised methods of funding his initiatives.

“With paltry finances for the huge ministry I oversee, it was virtually not possible to implement our programmes.

“I needed to depend on particular interventions accepted by the President to implement key initiatives,” he wrote.

Mohammed posited that what lingered most in regards to the late Buhari’s presidency was his quiet religion in belief.

He stated, when the late President entrusted somebody with accountability, he additionally granted them the liberty to behave, believing that responsibility carried its personal knowledge.

(NAN)