By Bassey Udo
The declining fortunes of the country’s economy may have claimed its major casualty as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday finally summed up courage to wield the big stick by approvinh the immediate sack of the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun.
Also affected in what the Office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, called a “minor cabinet reshuffle in the membership of the Federal Executive Council” is Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, who was removed as the minister of Housing and Urban Development.
A memo from Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation signed by the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Yomi Odunuga, said the two Ministers have been directed to leave the cabinet while their replacements have been named.
While Taiwo Oyedele, who was recently appointed as Minister of State for Finance, was elevated to take over as Edun’s successor, Mr. Muttaqha Rabe Darma (PhD) was named as Dangiwa successor in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
The memo directed that “all handing over and taking over processes should be completed on or before close of business on Thursday 23rd April, 2026.”
Although speculations about Edun’s impending sack over his ailing health condition and some irreconcilable differences with some top officials of the Presidency have been rife for some time, denials persisted from the government until the latest announcement on Tuesday.
Unconfirmed reports said the administration was uncomfortable with Edun’s handling of some issues relating to data on the performance of the economy in the last three years, particularly as they concerned the performance of the budget since the Tinubu administration came to office in May 2023.
Reports said while the government was showcasing above average performance of the economy, particularly as per successive annual budgetary appropriations, Edun allegedly countered with with real facts during one of his appearances before the National Assembly which showed that the figure could not have exceeded an average 35 percent over the last three years, a claim that
was said to have irked the Presidency, resulting in calls for his immediate ouster.
An intervention by powerful individuals closed to the corridors of power in the Villa with an argument that his sack then as one of the powerful pillars of the administration would wrong signals was only able to buy some time for him.
But while he was allowed to bid his time in the office for things to cool off, he was restricted from getting too close to some delicate data relating the performance of the economy, which are part of secret statistics jealousy guarded from the public by the government.
Some of those data, which he was in charge of in his capacity as the Chairman of FAAC by virtue of his position as the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, were warehoused with the FAAC Secretariat relating to records of the monthly revenue accruals to the Federation Account and disbursements to the three tiers of government in the form of statutory allocation.
As a result of the disagreement, the Presidency was said to have directed Edun to yield his role as the Chairman of FAAC to the Minister of State for Finance, who acted in that capacity till she was redeployed last month.
However, in explaining the rationale behind President Tinubu’s decision to approve Edun’s sack along with the other Minister, the SGF said in his statement that the changes were “aimed at strengthening cohesion, synergy in governance as well as achieving more impactful delivery on the economy to Nigerians, through the Renewed Hope Agenda.”
The SGF said the President, in approving the cabinet reshuffle, fully exercised his powers as conferred on him by Sections 147 and 148 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999, as amended).
While thanking the outgoing ministers for their services to the nation, the President wished them the best in all their future endeavours and assured all cabinet members that “the process of reinvigoration shall be continuous.”
Last month, the erstwhile Minister of State for Finance, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, who was moved from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in October 2024, was redeployed to the Ministry of National Planning after it emerged that she was having a frosty relationship with Edun over who should be in charge of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) Secretariat portfolio.