The All Progressives Congress (APC) has in an open show of hypocrisy asked the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachukwu, to resign his position from President Muhammadu Buhari’s led government if he is not capable of doing his part by efficiently running the Ministry assigned to him and providing workable solution to the current fuel scarcity in the country.
The party also said it is high time Kachukwu climbed down from “his high horse to face squarely the duties required of him by his office, as responsibility to the people is one of the cardinal points of the APC which he professes membership.”
But some Nigerians have viewed the APC position as a show of hypocrisy, arguing that Dr. Kachikwu merely told the truth as opposed to the “lies always dished out by the APC in matters of urgent national importance”.
The coordinator, Niger Delta Assembly, Chief Ezekiel Bokromo, pooh-poohed the APC position, describing it as laughable. Instead of asking for the head of Kachikwu, the APC should call the likes of Tinubu, Lai Mohammed and President Buhari to order for variously making empty promises to Nigerians.
“If not for the rot in our democracy, how can the likes of Tinubu and Hilliard Eta ever stand before an internationally-certified lawyer and technocrat of Kachikwu’s ranking?”, he queried.
In a statement signed by the APC national vice chairman, South-south, Prince Hilliard Eta, the party alleged that “Kachukwu has not entirely cast off the orientation of the Peoples Democratic Party where he was”, adding that such is still manifesting in his actions and utterances such as the recent one that attracted opprobrium from many Nigerians.
“In the light of the foregoing, Mr. Kachukwu must not be a cog in the wheel of progress and he should do the needful by resigning honourably if he is not capable of doing his part by efficiently running the Ministry assigned to him”.
While denying that there was major rift in the party, APC said: “It is important to reiterate here that winning the federal election in 2015 has not eroded the core ideology of progressivism which we espouse as it is the very foundation on which the party rest.
“This progressive ideology strongly emphasises government as a tool for service to the people who are the custodians of power in the first instance. In line with this, it is not wrong or out of place for Tinubu to call the Minister of State for petroleum, Mr. Ibe Kachukwu to order owing to the anti-progressive statements he made in the Presidential Villa on Wednesday 23 March,2016, while fielding questions from Journalists on the persisting scarcity of petrol.
“Secondly, we in the APC believe that it is proper to immediately correct mistakes or errors committed by any member of the party, no matter how highly placed and we are developing a culture of accountability to Nigerians who government is meant to serve.
“From this perspective, it is therefore understandable that Kachukwu’s statement to the effect that he has no solution to petrol scarcity bedeviling the country drew flaks from Tinubu and this does not, in any way imply that there is a crack within the party.
“In African culture, it is seen as irresponsible for an elder to watch a youngsters or an inexpensive person blunder without immediately calling him to order.
“Furthermore, the south south chapter of the APC feels that Kachukwu has not entirely cast off the orientation of the Peoples Democratic Party where he was and this is manifest in his action s and utterance an such as the recent one that attracted opprobrium from many Nigerians.”
