Some elders from the Bayelsa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have risen in opposition to what they described as “relentless attempts” by former President Goodluck Jonathan to take the state’s ministerial slot in President Bola Tinubu’s yet-to-be formed cabinet.
The stakeholders under the auspices of the Bayelsa APC Elders Council accused Jonathan of angling to produce a minister after actively and openly supporting the candidate of his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar during the last general election.
Speaking in Yenagoa, the state capital, Chairman of the APC Elders Council in the state, Chief Michael Adomokeme, said it was wrong for Jonathan to be trying to reap where he did not sow.
He said the ex-President was treading the part of unfairness and injustice, saying his “desperation” could be likened to someone seeking to receive salaries from company A after working for company B.
But Adomekeme expressed confidence that President Tinubu as a known rewarder of hard work would not allow a situation of “monkey work, baboon chop”.
He said: “People shouldn’t try to reap where they have never sowed. Some of us have been here since the early days of this party, when it was considered to be a taboo just by being a member.
“You all remember, APC in Bayelsa was called either Islamic party or Hausa party by these same people. Fast forward to the 2023 elections President Jonathan did everything to make sure we failed, but we didn’t as God would have it. What right has he to suddenly want to now nominate the minister from Bayelsa State?
“He was president for six years, he personally nominated dozens of Ministers. Why is he now so interested in just the single we as a party in Bayelsa wants to get? Is it to truncate the APC’s visible path to victory come November?’
“It is even an aberration and very demeaning for a former President to go cap-in-hand begging for a single ministerial slot. It ridicules and relegates the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
“He has been dubbed a statesman and hero of democracy. Fine and good, let him continue being that and not being a statesman by day and a political lobbyist by night.”
When contacted, the Media Aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr Wealth Dickson, said the allegation is baseless and untrue because the former President doesn’t have such plan
