Members of the kitchen cabinet of ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua are now jittery following the gradual pruning of their influence by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan.
All the loopholes through which they hitherto had unrestricted access to public funds are being blocked, while they are daily being made irrelevant in the scheme of things.
Also, areas where they thought they could sabotage the efforts of the acting president like energy, agriculture and electoral reforms are now being tackled by Jonathan, using other persons.

For instance, Dr Sayyad Ruma, the Minister of Agriculture, who served for eight years as a commissioner in Katsina State under Yar’Adua, is being indicted by some stakeholders in the sector in the procurement and distribution of farm input.
As the chairman of the committee on the revival of cocoa, a major cash crop in Nigeria, he has not called a meeting of the committee in over one year.
However, Jonathan is now using members of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) led by former Defence Minister, Lt-Gen. T.Y. Danjuma, to help out in key areas of government.
A financial expert in PAC is expected to anchor government’s fiscal policies and related matters, effectively sidelining Dr Taminu Yakubu, the Economic Adviser to the president and his aides in decision making process in the sector.
It was gathered that having sold numerous dummies that Yar’Adua is improving and would soon come out and with the reality on ground not supporting that at least for now, some loyalists of the ailing leader are finding ways of securing a soft landing for themselves.
They have started lobbying some people perceived as being close to Jonathan to give the assurance that they would support him.
Also, Monday’s removal of the National Security Adviser, Gen. Sarki Mukhtar, by Jonathan also jolted the president’s men.
They had thought that the controversy generated by the manner Yar’Adua was brought into the country on February 24 would just die down.
A number of people and groups had decried the deployment of troops without the knowledge of the acting president.
Mukthar is seen as one of the brains behind the influence the Yar’Adua group is having in the military.
“The acting president took the step to replace the NSA because he has to get someone he can trust to be in charge of his security. Moreover, that action is to send a signal to those opposed to his leadership, especially among the ministers that he can bite.
“He would have dissolved the cabinet last week, but pressure from Peoples Democratic Party leaders that he should tread softly swayed his opinion,” a source said in confidence.
The source added that the Federal Executive Council would still be dissolved, as it is becoming glaring that the members are no longer speaking with one voice.
The absence of Yar’Adua on medical trip for over 90 days polarised the cabinet along those supporting Yar’Adua and those calling for his removal.

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