SHEHU Sani, a senator from Kaduna State. has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately purge his cabinet of hyenas, jackals and wolves.

Sani, representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District,who gave the advice on Sunday, September 3, said the cleansing was necessary as part of efforts by the president to move the country forward.

He said the president would be disinfecting and fumigating the Presidency by tinkering with his cabinet; the membership of which he claimed, was suffering mid-term fatigue.

The senator, who described the hyenas, jackals and wolves as elements within the cycle of Presidency, said they had personal interests other than that of the president.

During a chat with reporters on Sunday, September 3, the senator said the need for the president to overhaul his cabinet now more than ever before could not be over-emphasised.

Sani, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, described the elements as “the mafias” (power brokers) within the Presidency, whose intents are different from that of the president himself but they are part of the Presidency.

He said: “One thing the President needs to do which is very important is a need for him to take a proactive stand in order to reset his Presidency by looking at his cabinet in totality.

“Those who have failed should be shown the way out and those who have not been able to perform satisfactorily should be replaced or reshuffled.

“But, it is time for Mr. President to throw some people out of his cabinet and change the portfolio of some of them so they can help him to perform better. There is mid-term fatigue that exists and the only way out is to bring in capable hands.

“If the first appointment into office was to appease the political interest, I think the president now should appoint those who are capable of delivering the mission, the vision and the programme of his own administration.”

The senator, who is also the president, Civil Rights Congress, CRC, in Nigeria said: “There is a message I’m sending to Mr. President to fumigate and disinfect presidency in the general interest of his own government and also the country as a whole.”

The advice came almost two months after the activist-turned politician drew attention to the scheming of hyenas, jackals and wolves on the corridor of power when Buhari was attending to an undisclosed ailment in London where he was on medical vacation.

The July 6, post on Sani’s Facebook page got a response from Aisha Buhari, wife of the president, four days later.

Sani had written on his Facebook page: “Prayer for the absent Lion King has waned; until he’s back then, they will fall over each other to be on the front row of the palace temple.

“Now the hyenas and the jackals are scheming and talking to each other in whispers; still doubting whether the Lion King will be back or not.

“Now the Lion King is asleep and no one dare to confirm if he will wake up or not. It’s the wish of the hyenas that the Lion King never wakes or comes back so that they can be kings.

“It’s the prayers of the weaker animals that the Lion King comes back to save the Kingdom from the hyenas, the wolves and other predators.”

The senator used the animal imagery obviously in reference to those scheming to become president in 2019, crisscrossing the country to take advantage of the president’s absence.

Some people in political positions were also believed to be undermining the system to position themselves in the president’s absence.

In her response to the senator’s post, Mrs. Buhari on her Facebook page on July 10, also expressed herself in a figurative manner, using the animal imagery like Sani did.

She wrote: “God has answered the prayers of the weaker animals. The hyenas and the jackals will soon be sent out of the kingdom. We strongly believe in the prayers and support of the weaker animals.

“Long live the weaker animals. Long live Nigeria.”

The president returned from his medical vacation after 103 days on August 19.

Indeed, not a few Nigerians expected a cabinet re-jig immediately the president resumed duty on August 21. But nothing of such happened as he chaired the first Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting in Abuja last Wednesday, August 30.

– Sept 4, 2017 @ 10:04 GMT |