Less than 24 hours after he sacked all but one of the aviation ministry parastatals CEOs, President Goodluck Jonathan this morning relieved Minister of Sports and Social Development, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, of his appointment. The decision was announced at the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.

Though one of the few performing ministers in Jonathan’s cabinet, Mallam Abdulahi became a marked man following his loyalty to his political godfather, Senator Bukola Saraki, who recently defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). Bolaji, a journalist-turned politician, was accused of sabotaging the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and did not do much to dispel that notion. He was not given any speaking role when Jonathan visited Kwara State for a PDP rally on Monday and some PDP members even held up placards denouncing him as a traitor and demanding his sack as a minister.

To compound Abdullahi’s problems, the Senate Committee on Sports yesterday went tough on his ministry, suspending action on its 2014 budget. It took the action following Abdullahi’s failure to appear before it to defend the ministry’s 2014 budget.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Adamu Gumba, had waited patiently but in vain for Abdullahi to lead heads of parastatals and agencies in the ministry to present and defend their 2014 budget until he was informed by the Director-General of the ministry, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye, that the minister was unavoidably absent from the exercise.

This infuriated the committee members, with one of the members, Deputy Senate Leader Abdul Ninigi, observing that the minister had for the third year running neither refused to honour the committee’s invitation to defend his ministry’s budget nor responded to invitations of the committee.

He expressed regret that it does appear Abdullahi had failed to know that it was his responsibility to lead parastatals and agencies under his ministry to defend their budget as the head of the organisation.

He said: “Wherever the minister is, he must come in person to present the ministry’s budget and we insist he must come and present the budget, otherwise we will not pass it.”

In his remark, chairman of the committee, Senator Gumba regretted that the absence of the minister from the budget defence was proof that he was not only undermining the importance of the appropriation bill to the development of sports in the country, but exhibits lack of respect to the committee.

“I think he is daring the committee and I insist he must be here Tuesday next week to defend the sports ministry’s budget. He must come here and tell us the balkanisation of Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna with lock-up shops. Those shops must be removed ahead of the inspection tour of major stadia in the country ahead of the World Cup,” he said.

•Photo shows former Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi.

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