Jonathan Sacks Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi (UPDATED)

Fresh reports indicate that President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked the Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi.

The sack was announced just before the commencement of Wednesday’s meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation, FEC.

The President said new ministers would also be named next week.

The sworn-in ministers are: Musiliu Obanikoro (Lagos), Minister of State Defence; Mohammed Wakil (Borno), Minister of State Power; Abduljelili Adesiyan (Osun), Minister of Police Affairs; Aminu Wali (Kano), Minister of Foreign Affairs; Akon Eyakenyi (Akwa Ibom), Minister of Land and Housing; Lawrencia Laraba(Kaduna State), Minister of Environment; Tamuno Danagogo (Rivers), Minister of Sports; Asabe Asmau Ahmed (Niger), Minister of State Agriculture; Aliyu Gusau (Zamfara), Minister of Defence; Boni Haruna (Adamawa), Minister of Youth Development; and Khaliru Alhassan (Sokoto State), Minister of State, Health.

Why Abdullahi was sacked

Neither Jonathan  nor the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Reuben Abati explained the reason for Abdullahi's sack.

However, Premium Times source provides that the unexpected action was necessitated by the politicking in Kwara, the home state of Bolaji Abdullahi.

First appointed Minister of Youth Development in 2011, Abdullahi was later asked to supervise the Sports Ministry. In May of the next year he was appointed substantive minister of sports.

He is believed to have been nominated minister by Ex-Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki.

It would be recalled that Saraki has recently defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, along with his supporters in Kwara and has since been a critic of the Jonathan administration.

Thus the rumours regarding Abdullahi's sack have emerged, as he is a known loyalist of Saraki in Kwara. Basically, all the potential explanations are connected with the personality of Bukola Saraki. 

Despite the fact that the already formed minister Bolaji Abdullahi has always explicitly supported Jonathan and his administration, he never denied being a Mr. Saraki loyalist.