Mar. 12, 2014
Abusidiqu can authoritatively confirm that the denial of the resignation of the Minister of Defence, General Aliyu Gusau by the presidency and as reported by the BBC Hausa service is hogwash.
The BBC Hausa had claimed that it spoke to General Gusau on telephone where he denied that he has resigned as the minister of defence, following an altercation between him and top military echelons.
In another report, Daily Trust today said Gusau spoke through one of his aides, Mr Adebisi Adekunle, describing the rumours of his resignation as unfounded.
Similar, the presidency in response to intense speculation, denied the resignation of the retired army general.
Reuben Abati, a spokesperson for President Goodluck Jonathan who Premium Times said it spoke with denied the report of Gusau’s resignation.
“It is not true that he has resigned,” Mr. Abati said to Premium Times in a short telephone interview.
But an insider source who revealed to Abusidiqu on the condition of anonymity confirmed that General Gusau actually submitted his letter of resignation to the president and that he is yet to have withdrawn the letter at the moment.
Although he said President Jonathan is yet to accept his resignation, it cannot therefore be said that he didn’t resign.
The source added that Gusau has not answered or returned calls from any media organization since he submitted the letter of resignation and wondered who the media organizations that claimed to have spoken with him spoke with.
“I have been with Gusau since morning. He has not from spoken to any media organization since he tendered his letter to resign as minister, so report that he spoke to anybody denying that he didn’t resign cannot be true”, the source said.
“What I can confirm to you is that he has been under pressure to rescind his decision to resign from the cabinet of the president, but he has not yet accepted the plea from the presidency”
The source confirmed that General Gusau has entered into a meeting with some top brass in the presidency, adding that the outcome of the meeting will determine if Gusau will continue to be the minister of defence or not.
