A report on Monday indicated that President Goodluck Jonathan may reshuffle his cabinet any time soon, a development that may consume some powerful Ministers.
According to Blueprint, Jonathan is likely to use the occasion of the swearing-in of new ministers recently cleared by the Senate, on his return to Abuja, to drop the bombshell.
Among cabinet members reportedly marked for replacement is the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke.
Diezani was described as “more of a liability than an asset”.
It was gathered that the strategy is part of Jonathan’s “three-prong approach” to win more support as the campaign pulls into the home stretch.
The source said: “Two of the planks are already in full throttle; getting the anti-terror campaign to an irreversible point of victory and to throwing himself completely into the ground game.
“The latter has seen the president return to the South-west battle ground repeatedly. The VP is also all over the North.
“The moves have put Jonathan’s opponents on notice that he is ready for the battle and the steps
have seen his popularity soaring up”.
The third and final leg of the strategic steps being taken by the president is said to be the last minute cabinet shake-up to shave off “the dormant and liability ministers”.
“The petroleum minister is said to be untouchable. You just wait and see if she survives the next shake-up,” the source added.
“The president is aware that her presence has brought so much ill feeling to his government. The decision to let her go was taken in the first week of February.”
Allison-Madueke, 55, joined the then President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua government from inception in 2007 as minister of transport.
She was appointed to head the petroleum ministry in 2010.
Diezani is the current President of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC.
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