Former presidential aide, Laolu Akande, has claimed that erstwhile Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, is not in President Bola Tinubu’s administration because some individuals are against it.
According to Akande, some people around Tinubu do not want Fashola in the incumbent administration because he would not tolerate certain practices within the government.
NEWSNGR reports that Akande made the claim during an interview on the Naija Unfiltered Podcast.
Akande said Fashola’s absence from the government could partly be due to fatigue, but argued that opposition from some people around Tinubu was a bigger factor.
He described Fashola as someone who would not compromise his principles to accommodate those around him.
“I think the reason why Fashola is not in this government, two reasons. I think Fashola himself has a bit of fatigue, more importantly, I think there are people around the president who don’t want to see Fashola because Fashola is not going to tolerate many of those things that you are seeing around,” he said.
Akande added that Fashola was known for standing his ground, which might have made some people in the president’s circle uncomfortable.
“Whatever you say about Fashola, he doesn’t take nonsense and the people who wanted to get some nonsense going, they didn’t want Fashola,” he said.
The former presidential aide, however, said Fashola remained close to Tinubu and had not had a major public disagreement with the president.
He suggested that, despite the lack of an open confrontation, underlying tensions could exist between the two politicians.
“Even somebody like Fashola, who is still very close to the president, no problems openly, although they are also under current which he will speak about, but at least he didn’t have any blowout problem with the man,” Akande said.
