Jonathan suspends Interior minister

President Goodluck Jonathan has suspended the Minister of Interior, Emmanuel Iheanacho.

Mr Iheanacho has been directed to hand over to his counterpart in the Ministry of Labour, Emeka Wogu, who will, in addition to his present portfolio, oversee that ministry.

This development may be connected with the protests in some parts of the country after Mr Jonathan was announced winner of the presidential polls. It may also be seen as the beginning of an imminent shakeup of his cabinet.

The Imo State born minister, a retired Navy Captain, was appointed substantive Minister of Interior on April 6, 2010, when Mr.Jonathan, as Acting President, announced his new cabinet

A statement by the spokesman to the president, Ima Niboro, said that the suspension comes "as a result of a number of lapses in the political leadership of the ministry traceable to his personal and official conduct. For now, his continued manning of the ministry is not in the interest of the nation."

Buhari: Tinubu Sold South West Votes to PDP, Jonathan

The controversy surrounding the failed alliance deal between General Muhammadu Buhari’s party and Bola Tinubu’s have just refused to go away. The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) presidential candidate, Major General Buhari has accused former Lagos State Governor Bolaji Ahmed Tinubu of trading off the South West region to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in the last Saturday’s Presidential election in a secret deal struck shortly before the poll. 

Buhari spoke through his spokesperson, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, alleging that Tinubu struck a deal with President Jonathan to deliver all the South Western states to the ruling PDP in the last presidential election. Though Buhari withheld details of the deal, he said Tinubu sealed the deal with Jonathan a few days before the presidential election. 

THEWILL has however reliably gathered that the founder of the ACN pushed to nominate candidates for the two most strategic positions in the Federal Executive Council–Offices of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Petroleum Resources. Bola Tinubu would also nominate Ministers for the slots allocated to other states in the South West, while he also sealed a deal that would see President Jonathan quash all investigations and allegations of corruption against him by the anti-graft agencies. In a phone chat with THEWILL on Monday, Buhari urged Tinubu “to stop hiding under false excuses after striking a deal with President Jonathan.