CoS: Why I Can’t Replace Abba Kyari -Isa Funtua

Giving reasons why he cannot replace the late Kyari as Buhari’s CoS, Funtua, while speaking to the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, Hausa Service, said that he should be employing people and not struggling for government appointments.

He maintained that appointments like the CoS should be for young people and not his age mates, admonishing Nigerians to stop making caricature of public offices.

He said, “I heard people mentioning my name to replace Abba Kyari, but I take the story as an insult instead. I have once worked with the government in the 1980s, worked with white men and also was once a minister of the Federal Republic. For someone to mention my name for that position is an insult, especially for a man who served as a minister nearly 40 years ago and out of government.

“I should be employing people now, not trying to struggle for government appointments. At my level and age, people should first see if I am fit to serve and see if I am strong enough and if I am up-to-date with current realities of governance.

“Even if they approach the President with my name, he knows he cannot ask me to serve at this age. For God’s sake, you mean at my age, I should be waking up at 8am to go to work? Haba, I am way passed that lifestyle. It’s for people like you (referring to the BBC journalist) and other much younger persons. We should stop making caricatures of public offices simply because of the sake of getting appointments.”

Meanwhile, a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, had listed Funtua as a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s “cabal.”