VICE president Namadi Sambo is at the top of a list of ministers planning to travel abroad immediately after the May 29 inauguration as soon at the governing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hands over to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
With the APC's president-elect General Muhammadu Buhari due to be sworn-in on the morning of May 29, several PDP ministers, governors and officials are planning to leave Nigeria almost immediately. Vice President Sambo will be leading this exodus with a planned trip to London on May 31, just two days after the swearing-in.
Others like finance minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, also plan leaving as she has concluded arrangements to return to the US after the president elect’s inauguration. Petroleum minister Diezani Allison-Madueke, who is currently in London, is expected to return to the country to attend the last federal executive council meeting during the week and then take off again afterwards.
Umar Sani, vice president Sambo's spokesman, said he is expected to be in London for about two weeks before returning to the country. He denied that the planned trip could be attributed to any fear of persecution by the incoming government, adding that if Alhaji Sambo was afraid of General Buhari, he would have left the country before the May 29 inauguration day.
Mr Sani said: “There is nothing to fear as vice president Namadi Sambo is not afraid of any persecution or victimisation by the incoming government. His planned trip has nothing to do with fear because if he is afraid of anything, he would have gone before May 29.”
Also, health minister Dr Khaliru Alhassan, also plans to travel abroad but he said he would leave for the ongoing World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. He stressed that he would be back in the country when the exercise is over.
Education minister Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, said no amount of road block could stop him from travelling to any country of his choice. He dared the incoming administration to proceed and mount a checkpoint for him in the crusade against corruption, adding that he had nothing to hide.
Nnamdi Olebara, Mallam Shekarau's spokesman, said: "Shekarau has no skeleton in his cupboard, so if he is travelling, it is not because of any arrest because he has nothing to fear. Anybody who knows Shekarau right from ages knows that he has nothing to fear.
"Asking of when he will travel is digging into somebody’s privacy, so let Buhari mount a checkpoint if he knows that Shekarau has committed any crime. If Shekarau is going to his mother’s house, he doesn’t need any permission and if he is going to Saudi Arabia, he doesn’t need anybody’s permission."
Minister of national planning, Dr Abubakar Sulaiman, said there was nothing wrong with members of President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet travelling abroad after the May 29 inauguration of the new government to rest. He said although he would be returning to the classroom as a lecturer at the University of Abuja, there was no reason for anybody to think that any member of the current administration that travels out after May 29 is afraid of a probe.
Minister of state for foreign affairs, Musiliu Obanikoro, also plans to travel abroad for a two-week vacation after May 29. However, the minister of industry, trade and investment Olusegun Aganga, information minister Patricia Akwashiki, and foreign minister Aminu Wali, have ruled out plans to leave the country for fear of prosecution.
