The hopes of former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu to be re-appointed into the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari appear to have been dashed.
The writer cum politician , sources say is poised to return to government to fill the slot of Delta state in the administration.
Recall that Presidential spokesman Femi Adesina recently hinted that President Buhari will not delay in constituting his cabinet.
But few hours after that statement, President Buhari made the first appointment suggesting that he may have foreclosed the appointment of Kachikwu into his cabinet.
The appointment of Dr Thomas John as the alternate chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, sources say is a signal that Buhari is not disposed to the appointment of Dr Kachikwu in to his government for a second time.
The outgoing Group Managing Director, GMD of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru on Tuesday made the announcement, in a terse statement, directing Dr John to resume immediately.
According to Baru, “he will hold the position of the Acting Alternate Chairman of the Governing Board until a new Minister of Petroleum Resources or Minister of State for Petroleum Resources is appointed to assume the Chairmanship or Alternate Chairmanship position, respectively in line with Sections 1(3) and 2(1) of the NNPC Act.”
“The new appointment, he stated “takes effect immediately.”
Aso Rock sources disclosed that President Buhari, is planning to repeat what he did during his first tenure, when he made himself the Petroleum minister, while Kachikwu was a junior minister in the cabinet.
“In that case, the new minister of state will be the alternate chair of NNPC while Buhari will be the substantive chair,” a source in the ministry said.
Another Aso Rock source also disclosed that “By appointing Dr John as alternate chair, President Buhari has either decided not to re-appoint the former minister into his cabinet or has decided to give him another portfolio.”
Those who spoke with the magazine said the tenure of Kachlkwu was tumultuous and that the president will not want to re-appoint the former minister because of his perceived controversy while he held sway in that ministry.
There are also some highly ranked officials in the presidency who believe that significant strides were not made in the nation’s oil sector with Kachikwu as minister.
For instance, those with this line of thought insist that the nation’s refineries are still not working despite all promises the minister made to repair them.
But most importantly, the factor that finally sealed the former minster’s fate, reliable sources say, was his one-time disagreement with the NNPC boss over the award of contract while President Buhari was on medical trip in London.
Apart from that, Kachikwu at a time also ran foul with former minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, over the construction of Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta state.
Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers state was President Buhari’s campaign Director General and one of his trusted aides.
