Some Nigerians have asked Bola Tinubu to step down as de facto Petroleum Minister, a job he commandeered from inception along with being President, despite his latest attempt to gaslight citizens about his second post claiming he has never called himself the Minister of Petroleum, an industry famous for mindboggling corruption......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
Tinubu’s spokesman Bayo Onanuga made the claim on his behalf on Channels Television.
Even with him washing his hands off the sleaze and crisis in the oil sector, it is publicly believed that Tinubu is the Petroleum Minister, following in the footsteps of his successor and fellow gaslighter Muhammadu Buhari who refused to appoint someone for the office and instead appropriated it throughout his eight years in the Villa (2015-2023).
Olusegun Obasanjo appointed himself Petroleum Minister for six of the eight years he was President (1999-2005), Umar Yar’Adua gave the job to Rilwan Lukman during his presidency (2008-2010), and Goodluck Jonathan picked Diezani Alison-Madueke for it during his own time as President.
Tinubu has two Ministers of State for Petroleum – one for Oil (Heineken Lokpobiri) and one for Gas (Ekperikpe Ekpo). But he has not appointed anyone as Petroleum Minister.
So it is logical to believe that Tinubu is following the example set by Buhari that he is automatically Petroleum Minister, even though he left room for denial since he did not formally announce it
Onanuga reiterated on Channels Television on Sunday that the Petroleum Ministry has two Ministers supervised by Tinubu.
“The President has never called himself the Minister of Petroleum; it’s you people in the media. We have two Ministers and as far as this President is concerned, we have two ministers of petroleum, and one of them focuses on gas,” he said.
“That’s an area that this government discovered in the past that Nigeria neglected and Nigeria is more of a gas country than an oil country; President Tinubu is focusing on gas.
“Recently, Obasanjo said he made a mistake during his time by not focusing on gas and Tinubu is rectifying that by making sure we focus on gas. The president supervises all his ministers; he’s in charge of everything.”