APC BACKS TINUBU,ASK KACHIKWU TO RESIGN AS PETROLEUM MINISTER

The South-South national vice chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Hilliard Eta, has asked the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, to resign from his position “if he is not capable of doing his part by efficiently running the ministry assigned to him”.

Kachikwu, who doubles as Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had said, in reaction to public criticism of his handling of the fuel scarcity, that Nigerians should count themselves fortunate that the NNPC under his stewardship had been able to bring in the amount of fuel it was currently doing.

This comment had also drawn criticism from the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who said the minister strayed from the progressive calling required of the Muhammadu Buhari administration by making the statement attributed to him.

Eta, in a statement, said Kachikwu should get down from “his high horse to face squarely the duties required of him by his office, as responsibility to the people is one of the cardinal points of the APC which he professes membership of.”

He said the South-South APC felt that “Kachikwu has not entirely cast off the orientation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where he was, and that it was manifest in his actions and utterances such as the recent one that attracted anger from many Nigerians.

“In the light of the foregoing, Mr. Kachikwu must not be a cog in the wheel of progress and he should do the needful by resigning honourably if he is not capable of doing his part by efficiently running the ministry assigned to him,” he said.

The party said the criticism from the APC national leader was not an indication that there was a major rift in the party.

 “It is important to reiterate here that winning the federal election in 2015 has not eroded the core ideology of progressivism which we espouse as it is the very foundation on which the party rests,” Eta also said.

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