Nigeria’s governing All Progressives Congress (APC) says the resignation of Kemi Adeosun as Minister of Finance and acceptance of same by President Muhammadu Buhari is an act of honour, strength, character and integrity.
Yekini Nabena, the APC acting National Publicity Secretary, said this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
Adeosun’s certificate scandal that showed she procured a forged exemption certificate after failing to perform the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) upon graduation from the university before the age of 30 was exposed by Premium Times.
For over 60 days after the scandal was exposed, Adeosun kept mum and continued in office, while the Buhari administration also largely kept mum on the scandal. The APC also kept mum.
Mrs Adeosun in her resignation letter to the president, made available by the presidency on Friday, admitted that her NYSC exemption certificate was not genuine and might affect the credibility of the administration, if she failed to quit office.
Reacting to the development, Mr Nabena said that like all responsive and responsible governments concerned about the truth and due process, the APC-led federal government undertook diligent investigation of the allegation.
“Now that the report of the investigation is out, the right thing has been done, the honourable Minister has taken the path of honour and resigned,” he said.
Mr Nabena congratulated Mrs Adeosun for her action and wished her success in her future endeavours, and joined the president in appreciating her immense contributions to the stability of the Nigerian economy in the past three and half years.
He added that in Buhari’s administration of integrity and transparency in the conduct of public affairs, no government officer with a modicum of questionable conduct or integrity should stay in office.
He alleged that in past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led administrations, the country was held down by “corrupt and irresponsible public officers.”
The PDP, which governed Nigeria from 1999 to 2015, and many of its prominent members such as presidential aspirant Atiku Abubakar had called out Mr Buhari for failing to act on Mrs Adeosun’s scandal, further piling pressure on the Buhari administration.
In his statement, Mr Nabena said during past PDP administrations, officials refused to honour invitations of the National Assembly; closed down national airports against perceived political adversaries and bought luxurious bullet-proof vehicles with public funds at inflated prices.
He recalled that such public officers had also locked out National Assembly members, forcing federal lawmakers to climb high barricades in order to assess the legislative chamber.
“It was these acts of corruption, impunity, irresponsibility and executive rascality that made Nigerians vote in the President Buhari administration in 2015, with its change mantra to put a stop to such undemocratic practices,” Mr Nabena said.
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