Information available to 247ureports.com through principal sources conversant with the activities inside the government house in Awka, Anambra State indicate that the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi has opened up on the widely reported sack of Commissioners / Cabinet members. According to the information, the Governor spoke up at an interactive session yesterday [Friday] with the Inspector General of Police and other stakeholders in Anambra – stating that he has not sacked any member of his cabinet.
The Governor through his aide had on the early morning of Friday sent out text messages to his cabinet members requesting for their presence at an emergency Exco – meeting to be convened at 7:30am on Friday morning.
The call for the emergency Exco meeting by the Governor, as expected, sent shock waves across the ministries – who believed the Exco meeting to be the meeting where the Governor will officially announce the sack of the Commissioners. But the contrary was the case. The Governor chaired the meeting which started from 7:30am and lasted till 8:30am. Available information indicates that the Exco meeting proceeded with a normalcy that dispelled the rumor of a pending sack or dissolution of cabinet.
The Exco meeting was immediately followed by an interaction session with specially invited monarchs from Anambra and the Inspector General of Police, Abubakar [ who was on a brief visit to Anambra State]. The entire members of the Anambra State Executive cabinet were present for the interactive session. During the session, an interesting thing happened as the Igwe of Mbaukwu held the kola nut presented to the attendees of the session. The Igwe of Mbankwu while holding the kola nut and addressing the attendees made a remark and “jokingly” addressed the Commissioners as “ex-commissioners”.
The Governor was quick to interrupt the Igwe of Mbaukwu. The Governor in a “serious” demeanor corrected the Igwe of Mbaukwu that “no commissioner has been fired. I have not sacked any commissioner“. The governor’s quick utterance caught the cabinet members by shock – who had thought that the governor was prepping to sack them. Following the end of the interactive session, the Governor was reported to board a flight to Lagos where he is scheduled to received an award.
Independent inquiry into the rumor of cabinet dissolution indicated that the Governor may have reacted out of anger over the public dispute between one of the governor’s aide in the person of Nwaobualor and the National Chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance [APGA], Victor Umeh. Available information revealed that the governor had convened a special Exco to address his cabinet following the break of the dispute into the public arena.
At the meeting, he chastised the members of the cabinet over their lack of loyalty to the Executive Governor. He indicated that there appear undue influence of the national APGA Chairman over the activities of the State government. “I need to know who amongst you are with us and those against us” stated a visibly angry Governor who then went on to demand a handover note from the cabinet members. Recently gathered information confirms that the governor had suspected that some of his cabinet members where working in cohorts with Victor Umeh to compromise the integrity of his government.
Meanwhile Governor Peter Obi, according to a source, has refrained from responding to the allegations laid by the APGA chairman on his person. The source notes that the governor thought it unwise to have the public see him in an ugly tussle with his party chairman.
stay tuned
