Dr George Akume not a womanizer, drunkard, evil plot to remove SGF from office will not work

By Musa Wada

The recent removal of some Ministers of the Federation by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not come to anyone as a surprise and this is due to popular demand by the citizens for a change in the composition of the President’s cabinet where Nigerians demanded for the President to show the door to those he appointed as Ministers who were deemed to have for the last one year performed below expectations of the citizens.

The change was not done because the President hates the faces of those he showed the way out but it is perceived by all as a systematic and pragmatic way of telling all who cares to listen that indeed our President has a listening ear.

For the first time in our country it was indeed gratifying to see a President setting up a template to review the performances of his Minister’s and using that benchmark of expectation to retain or remove a Minister. We can all recall that indeed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently announced that there will be a change in his cabinet after giving his special adviser on policy coordination the task of reviewing the performances of every individual Minister since assuming office a little over a year ago.

The special adviser to the President on policy coordination, Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman after painfully and systematically using all scientific intelligence in reviewing all the Minister’s came out with a report which she submitted to the President for his attention and action.

The President indeed acted swiftly by using the report as a benchmark in retaining or removing the Minister’s and this was commended by all.

The report submitted to the President by the special adviser on policy coordination as commendable as it is did not come with without twist and turn if recent report on some of her recommendations to the President as reported by some section of the Nigerian press is to be believed.

According to those who are privy to the reports submitted to the President by his special adviser on policy coordination for action it was speculated that she indeed recommended for the removal of the secretary to the government of the federation, Dr.George Akume, a former governor of Benue state, a three term senator, a former Minister of the Federation and a very close political Ally to the President and indeed one of the most respected shinning light of this administration.

If the report is anything to be believed then it is a general view that she must have acted out of vendetta or forced against her will to act on a script of some powerful political rival of the secretary to the government of the federation to use flimsy excuses as a bases of getting the SGF, removed from office and it is a general view that almost all Nigerians applauded the President for looking the other way by retaining the present Secretary to the Government of the Federation and shaming his opponents in the process.

Why on earth will somebody that is entrusted with the task of reviewing the performances of Minister’s in the last one year by the President go so low to write a false report on somebody like the secretary to the government of the Federation who to many is one of the shinning light of the Tinubu administration and one regarded as an example to all when it comes to the character and morality expected from a public official?.

Dr. George Akume is a very respected politician who through dint of hard work walk his way to the top of the civil service in Benue state from a very humble beginning when he retired from service as a permanent secretary before dabbling into partisan politics because of the trust his people have for him in 1999 when he contested and won the gubernatorial election of his state to become the governor of Benue state, a position which he retained in the next election because of his performances as the governor of the state for eight years.

After finishing his two tenure as governor, he again contested for the Senate of the Federal republic and convincingly defeated his opponents to become the senator representing his people, a position which he served for three tenure. A man who has transverses the political firmament and landscape of the country living behind in every position he has served his people and the country living behind like a comet a trail of light and still serving his country with distinction to be described in a report to the President as a womanizer and drunkard in order to be removed is to all anything but very frivolous.

It is on record that Dr. George Akume since he entered partisan politics has never been mentioned or quizzed for any sleeze or invited to answer any question from the economic and financial crimes commission (EFCC) to now because of the politics of vendetta be defamed by an appointee of the same President that respects the worth of the secretary to the government is again anything but unfortunate.

Dr. George Akume is known for long as an apostle of the new type of politics dispensation we have all craved for in this country together with our President, Ahmed Bola Tinubu who is today taking the needed painful decisions in order to make our country great again.

They must be left alone to help make our country better because the bond and closeness we see in them today was made in heaven for a very long time even before they entered partisan politics. It is indeed a shame that politics in our country is now been turned into a circus where anything goes but in this case our President got it right with his decision to retain the present occupier of the office of the secretary to the government of the Federation because he is a blessing to this administration.

Musa Wada is a public affairs analyst from Abuja