Akande says some in Tinubu's circle blocked Fashola from cabinet
- Laolu Akande said on a podcast that some people around President Tinubu did not want Babatunde Fashola in government.
- He said Fashola would not put up with practices he says are going on in the administration.
- Akande added that Fashola may also be tired, and that he and Tinubu have no open quarrel.
A former presidential aide, Laolu Akande, has said that some people close to President Bola Tinubu did not want Babatunde Fashola in the current government, and that this is the main reason the former minister has stayed out.
Akande spoke on the Naija Unfiltered Podcast, in an interview published on Saturday. He served as Senior Media Aide to former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, Fashola's absence has two parts. One is that Fashola himself may be tired. The bigger one, Akande argued, is that some people in the president's circle did not want him there.
His reason: Fashola, he said, would not go along with certain things happening in government. Akande described the former minister as a man who stands his ground and does not bend to please those around him.
"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," Akande said.
He also said Fashola and Tinubu remain close, with no public fight between them. Still, he suggested there may be quiet tension between the two men that has not broken into the open.
Why it matters
Fashola is a familiar name in Nigerian politics. He was governor of Lagos State from 2007 to 2015, then served in Buhari's cabinet, first as Minister of Power, Works and Housing and later as Minister of Works and Housing. He has not held any post under Tinubu.
Talk about who sits in the president's team matters to ordinary Nigerians because cabinet choices shape decisions on roads, power, housing and public spending.
It is worth being clear about what this is. Akande's claim is his personal account from an interview, not a statement from the presidency, from Fashola or from Tinubu. Neither Fashola nor the presidency has responded publicly to the podcast remarks in the reports reviewed here.
Akande also discussed the relationship between Tinubu and Osinbajo on the same podcast, though the reports did not give details of what he said on that.
What happens next
There is no sign of a cabinet change from this. Unless Fashola or the presidency comments, the claim stays an allegation from a former official speaking on a podcast.
