The President's Letter: Why Dr. Ibe Kachikwu Should Have Resigned.

If it is true that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources does not enjoy broad, direct, and immediate access to the Minister for Petroleum Resources, who in the instant case, is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, that is an automatic disqualification, and Nigerians should be concerned. In similar vein, if the GMD of NNPC, in taking important decisions such as structural reorganizations of top personnel at NNPC, suffers no scruples in failing to consult with or extending deference to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (the Chairman of the Board), especially when the President was overseas, then a discerning mind is at liberty to conclude that the GMD of NNPC, DR. Maikanti Baru, is the substantive Minister for Petroleum Resources. Because, without NNPC, there is no Ministry of Petroleum Resources. In other words, he who exercises absolute power and control over NNPC is invariably in charge of the Ministry of the Petroleum Resources. 

That Dr. Ibe Kachikwu is still serving, remaining on the job as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources - with due consideration given to the contents of the leaked letter that he allegedly sent to the President - one is at liberty, also, to call Dr. Ibe Kachikwu a toothless bulldog and a Minister without portfolio - a casualty of the Nigerian political question that the cabal of the present dispensation suffers no qualms exacerbating as long as the black gold is in safe hands - the hands of the chosen ones.

Truth is, only you - by your action or inaction - can make yourself a Second-Class-Citizen. Try that with an El'Rufai or a Junaid Mohammed, the President and the Presidency will not sleep, restiveness will reign supreme within the rank and file of the industry stakeholders and the oil industry will not know peace. Here is the deal: I am not sharing this report because it is news-worthy. And I am not writing it for debate or for a "like." I am taking a STAND - a critical stand for the resurgence of a nation at the verge of disintegration. That a Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources is pleading to have an audience with the Minister in the same Ministry is an aberration. (The "report" referred in this paragraph is only available to my Facebook's audience).

That said, the greediness and to a greater extent, the predisposition of Southerners towards capitulation on the most serious question of statecraft, influenced principally by the spoils of office, makes feudalism or the "the born to rule" culture a thriving occurrence. Once again, don't get me wrong; I am not advocating for the disintegration of our nation-state. I espouse the philosophy of "Decentralization without Disintegration." In other words, do not continue to "Sagay" yourself, when you are a product of quota (we have one of them), patently underutilized and wallowing in redundancy. 

The GMD of NNPC does not by any stretch of the imagination, consider Mr. Kachikwu, a political appointee and the Chairman of the Board, worthy of his concerns or attention in his defined adventure and reorganizations at NNPC, whether or not the President is in town or within reach. This ugly scenario that is playing out in the open is the quintessential Nigerian political question - a national tragedy - that is still being defined. Ike Kachikwu has everything that matters on the job - Ivy league educational background and a professional career that is one of a kind in the oil industry. Yet, he is pleading for attention in the same industry in his own country and before his immediate boss - the Minister of Petroleum Resources, who, as stated above, is the President of the country. That he remains on the job cast doubt on his integrity and put into question his understanding and appreciation of the virtue of selflessness in public office. 

My name is Alex Aidaghese, and I approve this message.