Stop parading yourself as petroleum minister, Falana tells Tinubu

A Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, on Thursday, asked President Bola Tinubu to stop parading himself as the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

This, Falana said, is necessary because the President was not screened by the National Assembly before assuming the role.

He spoke in Abuja at the public presentation of a book titled, “Dis Life No Balance; An Anthropology of Nigerian Diaspora Voices,” co-authored by Professors Farooq Kperogi, Moses Ochonu, and Dr. Osmund Agbo.

While cautioning Tinubu against imitating former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari who were ministers of petroleum during their tenures, Falana argued that the President’s role as a minister of petroleum contravened section 147 of the Constitution.

The SAN, who re-echoed the recent position of the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the 14th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, on Tinubu’s role as a minister of the petroleum resources, claimed that the arrangement makes it difficult for the country to hold the NNPC limited accountable.

“Last week, a former governor of the central bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, advised President Bola Tinubu against occupying the office of the Minister of Petroleum Resources saying such an arrangement makes it difficult for the country to hold the NNPC limited accountable.

“We paid N11trn in 8 years under President Muhammadu Buhari to import oil or fuel. Why has there been no investigation? With respect, this is my answer, President Bola Tinubu is not the Minister of Petroleum Resources as his nomination was never sent to the senate for screening as mandatorily required by section 147 of the Constitution.

“My advice is that the President should not parade himself as the minister of petroleum resources like President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Muhammadu Buhari,” he said.

The book reviewer, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, a former presidential spokesman, said the 381-page book was well-edited with quality content and quality publication, saying that it expresses the authors’ disappointment about the turn of events in the country.