TheCable

Olisa Metuh, national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has revealed that Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan wanted to name Ibe Kachikwu as replacement for Diezani Alison-Madueke as petroleum minister.

Metuh, who spoke on President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to head the petroleum ministry, said his party would expose him if anything dishonest happens in the ministry.

He stated that the PDP under Jonathan discovered the incumbent group managing director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), over two years ago.

“Ibe Kachikwu was supposed to be Minister of Petroleum under PDP two years ago; he is not a new discovery,” he said.

“If the President handles the petroleum industry and does anything dishonest, we will expose him and tell Nigerians.”

He added that his party was committed to constructive criticism and not unnecessary opposition of every government policy.

“The style we are bringing is constructive criticisms because the essence is not about winning. It is about  serving the people. We want to serve the Nigerian people – that is why we are in politics,” he said on Channels TV programme, Sunrise Daily.

“When we were in government, the then opposition government (APC) did certain things that were indecent and not good for the progress or unity of our country.

“Anytime there was a terrorist attack on the country, we had lots of condemnation of the government and it made the terrorists emboldened. The insurgents were dividing us along ethnic and religious lines and the APC were promoting it.”

“As an opposition party, we have decided that we will not adopt the same tactics. We have not abused Mr. President; we do not abuse his office. We limit ourselves to issues, providing alternatives and options to his policies and programmes, although we haven’t seen any yet.”

Speaking on the ministerial nominees, the PDP spokesperson said the president chose those he had worked with, knowing full well where their strength and capacity lies.

Metuh argued that Buhari reserves the right to choose the people he had worked with and whose capacity he can vouch for, adding that the PDP only has a problem with the timing of the list, not the content.

“At this time, we are still discussing ministers as if it’s a big deal. We are now talking about ministerial appointments like that Telemundo show,” he said.

“PDP only has problem with the timing of the list publication not the nominees.”