Sylva is minister of state for petroleum, the most consequential position in Buhari’s government after the office of the president
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
President Muhammadu Buhari wants the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, to succeed him in 2023, says columnist and U.S. based professor of journalism, Farooq Kperogi.
In a piece on his website, farooqkperogi.com, he reveals that Buhari resorted to Sylva after his initial choice of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan failed to receive the blessings of the cabal running his government behind the scene.
He says: “Buhari himself, not the Aso Rock cabal, who wanted Goodluck Jonathan to succeed him in 2023! Apparently, even members of the cabal were disquieted by this.
“The cabal played along for a while (knowing Buhari’s well-known cognitive impairments and imperviousness to reason) and, at the right time, reminded him that in June 2018 he’d signed into law a “Constitution Alteration Bill Number 16” that makes it unconstitutional for vice presidents and deputy governors who complete the first terms of deceased or impeached and removed presidents and governors to run for election twice,” he says.
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But Kperogi argues that since the law makes it illegal for Jonathan to seek another term as president, Buhari told the Aso Rock cabal that he wants Sylva to succeed him.
He said: “It doesn’t seem to me that the cabal is enthused by this. But we will see. Sylva has credible allegations of multi-billion-naira corruption hanging around his neck. In 2013, the EFCC seized 48 houses he corruptly acquired, which it returned to him in 2016, months after he defected to the APC,” Kperogi says.
The journalism teacher said while he doesn’t know what bond binds Buhari and Sylva, he said the bond must be deep for Buhari to name the former Bayelsa State governor as chairman of his inauguration committee in 2015.
He added: “The position of minister of state for petroleum is probably the most consequential position in this regime after the office of the president. Buhari family members work with Sylva. One Nuhu Dauda (who is Buhari’s nephew since his father is Buhari’s half-brother) works as an assistant to Sylva.
“Even if Buhari doesn’t have his way to get Sylva to succeed him, he is clear that he wants neither Tinubu nor Osinbajo as his successors. Whether that insistence will have any consequences for the electoral fortunes of Tinubu and Osinbajo in the APC primaries is anybody’s guess. But you have to wonder why Buhari who likes to tout his “integrity” is always drawn to corrupt and shady people.”
