The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole, has threatened to sack the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige.
The threat, he said, followed the refusal of Ngige to inaugurate boards of parastatals under his ministry, after he had been directed to do so.
Oshiomhole issued the threat on Monday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, when he spoke with State House correspondents.
It was gathered that following a letter to Ngige by Oshiomhole over the need to inaugurate the boards, the minister explained in respect of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) that he was being hindered by the issue of an alleged N40 billion corruption case by its former board.
But in his reaction, Oshiomhole said the refusal of the minister or any of the ministers to inaugurate the boards of parastatals amounted to a disobedience to the president.
He said if Ngige failed, he would be suspended by the party.
According to him, by extension, the suspension would mean a sack from office as a minister.
“If the minister refuses we will suspend him from the party,” he said.
“For me it is the height of mischief for any minister. You cannot purport to be an honourable minister and you act dishonourably; nobody is greater than the party.
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“And if the President condones disrespect for his office, I will not condone disrespect for the party. And when we expel the minister we will prevail on the president that he can’t keep him in his cabinet people who have neither respect for his own decisions nor have respect for the party without which they would not have been ministers,” he said.
Stressing that the ministers had taken undue advantage of the “fatherly disposition” of the president, he said some discipline needed to be enforced.
He said nobody was above the party and hence had to comply with the directives.
He said further: “It is the same green pen that made them ministers that appointed these boards that they are refusing to swear in. And it is absolutely illegal for a minister in a democracy to prey on the powers of the board because the laws establishing those institutions are clear, that the boards have procedures to follow.
“So, when a minister sits in his office to appropriate the powers of the board in a democracy, not in a dictatorship, award contracts that didn’t go through boards, those are clearly abuse of office for which they are liable.
“I am convinced that what they are doing is not with the endorsement of Mr. President. Over the period they have tried to drop the president’s name but I tell them it is the same authority that appoints these people.
“So, we are informing them that it is either they comply with the president’s instructions or they comply with the party’s position or they go and administer outside the government….
“If they did that in the past, under our leadership we will not tolerate it. They either comply or we will expel them from the party. When we expel them we will find out how a government can keep a rebel in the cabinet. There is no question about that.”
