Former presidential aide Laolu Akande has alleged that some individuals close to President Bola Tinubu opposed the appointment of the former Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola to the current administration.
In an interview on the Naija Unfiltered podcast, published by Symfoni TV on Friday, Akande attributed Fashola’s absence from the Federal Government partly to possible fatigue on his part but said resistance from people within the President’s circle was a more significant reason.
“I think the reason why Fashola is not in this government, two reasons. I think Fashola himself has a bit of fatigue; more importantly, I think there are people around the president who don’t want to see Fashola because Fashola is not going to tolerate many of those things that you are seeing around,” Akande said.
He described the former minister as someone who stands firmly by his principles and would not compromise to accommodate practices he considers unacceptable.
“Whatever you say about Fashola, he doesn’t take nonsense and the people who wanted to get some nonsense going, they didn’t want Fashola,” he said.
Akande did not disclose the identities of the individuals he accused of opposing Fashola’s inclusion in the administration. He also failed to provide specific examples of the alleged practices they wanted to protect.
Fashola was Lagos State governor from 2007 to 2015 before joining the cabinet of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Akande maintained that the former governor remained close to President Tinubu despite his non-inclusion in the administration.
“Even somebody like Fashola, who is still very close to the president, no problems openly,” he said.
The former presidential aide also questioned whether Tinubu was making sufficient use of capable individuals who could challenge his decisions when necessary.
He argued that effective governance required people who could disagree with the President when they believed his decisions or the actions of those around him were wrong.
Akande cited Fashola as an example of a politician who would stand his ground, alleging that some individuals within Tinubu’s circle preferred not to have such a figure in the administration.
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