Senior lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN), has informed President Bola Tinubu to stop parading himself as the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
Falana gave the charge on Thursday at the public presentation of a book titled, “Dis Life No Balance; An Anthropology of Nigerian Diaspora Voices” co-authored by Professors Farooq Kperogi, Moses Ochonu, and Dr. Osmund Agbo.
According to Falana, this has become necessary as the President was not screened by the National Assembly before assuming the role.
Politics Nigeria reports that Falana was re-echoing the recent position of the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the 14th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, on Tinubu’s role as a minister of the petroleum resources.
While cautioning Tinubu against imitating former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari who were ministers of petroleum during their tenures, Falana argued that the President’s role as a minister contravened section 147 of the Constitution.
The legal luminary claimed that the arrangement makes it difficult for the country to hold the NNPC limited accountable.
His words: “Last week, a former governor of the central bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, advised President Bola Tinubu against occupying the office of the Minister of Petroleum Resources saying such an arrangement makes it difficult for the country to hold the NNPC limited accountable.
“We paid N11trn in 8 years under President Muhammadu Buhari to import oil or fuel. Why has there been no investigation? With respect, this is my answer, President Bola Tinubu is not the Minister of Petroleum Resources as his nomination was never sent to the senate for screening as mandatorily required by section 147 of the Constitution.
“My advice is that the President should not parade himself as the minister of petroleum resources like President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Muhammadu Buhari,” he said.
