The northern caucus in the House of Representatives has called on Dora Akunyili, minister of information and communications, to resign.
The members, under the aegis of the Northern Members Caucus, said it was concerned with, "the recent statements credited to the Information minister suggesting systemic undermining of the functioning of the Acting President, regardless of its security implications."
They said since she deplores the views of other members of the cabinet so much, she should resign her appointment.
THe PDP also voiced their strong objections to Mrs Akunyilis statements :
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday moved to douse tension in the land. It specifically told Information and Communications Minister Dora Akunyili and some religious groups alleged to be making statements capable of affecting the unity of the country to shut up.
Akunyili in an interview with some national newspapers had alleged that some cabals were holding President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua hostage, preventing everybody including Acting President Goodluck Jonathan from seeing him.
According to a statement issued by PDP National Publicity Secretary Ahmed Alkali, the party said such “unguided statements” from Akunyili and other religious groups in the country were capable of destabilizing the country.
The statement emerged after the party's National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Abuja. PDP said it “observed with dismay the preponderance of potentially divisive and destabilizing statements by socio-cultural groups, leading politicians and even senior government officials over issues surrounding the smooth functioning of the government of Nigeria led by the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
“We expect that by now, questions on where the buck stops as far as the running of government is concerned would have been put to rest. We therefore find constant reference to purported power 'cliques' or 'cabals' especially by responsible public officials as unhelpful in our determination to create a conducive atmosphere for the smooth operations of government.”
Referring to the utterances and comments by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Ohaneze and Afenifere, the party expressed concern that these socio-cultural groups, which “ordinarily should be custodians of our cultural values and rallying points for our people are abandoning their traditional roles and are delving into partisan politics.
“We urge them to refrain from actions that are capable of questioning their motives and neutrality.”
PDP cautioned all politicians, public office holders, clergymen and socio-cultural groups to rise above petty politics and demonstrate the statesmanship “that the current situation requires”.
The Nigeria Unity Group (NUG) has also cautioned the Information minister to be mindful of her utterances as a public officer.
According to the group's National Coordinator Ed Malik, “the truth that is told with intent to harm or to gain cheap popularity or play to the gallery or to exploit public mood, is the dead point in human reasoning.”
He said further, “the Information minister has not added value to the information management process or said anything new to warrant the constant bombardment of our national psyche by her populist attempt at appearing to be the only outspoken or caring public officer in the land at a time of delicate political manoeuvres being witnessed since President Yar'Adua's illness was reported.”
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