{"id":136344,"date":"2024-01-03T15:38:59","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T15:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/01\/03\/i-almost-turned-down-buharis-ministerial-appointment-in-2015-fayemi\/"},"modified":"2024-01-03T15:38:59","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T15:38:59","slug":"i-almost-turned-down-buharis-ministerial-appointment-in-2015-fayemi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/01\/03\/i-almost-turned-down-buharis-ministerial-appointment-in-2015-fayemi\/","title":{"rendered":"I Almost Turned Down Buhari\u2019s Ministerial Appointment In 2015 \u2014 Fayemi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-620475\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/i-will-probe-fayose-once-i-assume-office-kayode-fayemi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, has disclosed that he nearly turned down ex-President Muhammdu Buhari\u2019s ministerial appointment in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Fayemi served as Minister for Solid Minerals from 2015 \u2013 2018.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview published by ThisDay on Tuesday, Fayemi said the announcement came to him as a surprise, adding that he thought he was going to be appointed Foreign Affairs Minister.<\/p>\n<p>The former Ekiti governor said he had made up his mind to inform Buhari that he would not take up the appointment because he was \u201cnot prepared to mess himself up\u201d as he knew nothing about the ministry.<\/p>\n<p>He however revealed that Niyi Adebayo, the former Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, along with his wife, persuaded him not to tell Buhari that he would not accept the appointment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore I became a minister, I was director of policy for the presidential campaign and also worked in the transition committee, so I had a comprehensive view of what was going on in the Jonathan administration, but I was not prepared to go to the ministry I was assigned to.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was announced as the minister for solid minerals, I must confess, I was surprised. I honestly thought I was going to be minister of foreign affairs, an area in which I was a frontline adviser for President Buhari during the period leading up to the election and before ministers were announced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn fact, I was with President Buhari on his last assignment at the United Nations before the ministerial list was released on the day we returned from the United Nations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO: FG Relying On Revenue Than Borrowing \u2014 Wale Edun On 2024 Budget<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got home after we were sworn in and portfolios assigned and told my wife and our leader, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, that I was going to inform President Buhari that I could not take the appointment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do I know about the ministry? It was not even about being a dry or juicy ministry. I was not prepared to mess myself up, after coming this far.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought the ministry should go to a subject matter expert. So, I decided I was not going to take it. But Otunba said, no, that would be selfish and that I must put our people into my consideration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI must take it. He added: \u2018Kayode, your strength is in managing people and resources, and you are going to take it and make a statement. Having managed a whole state, you can manage anything.\u2019 And my wife aligned with him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was still not convinced but at least, they stopped me from going to tell President Buhari I was opting out of the cabinet,\u201d he detailed.<\/p>\n<p>The former Ekiti governor stated that Buhari later explained to him that he deliberately appointed him as Minister for Solid Minerals, adding that he took the appointment as a challenge and grew into the job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEventually, President Buhari explained to me that he was deliberate in sending me to the ministry because he had three priorities \u2013 infrastructure, agriculture and solid minerals development and he wanted excellent hands in the three areas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI took it up as a challenge and I believe I grew into the job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my three years there, we grew the contribution of solid minerals as a percentage of GDP, developed a comprehensive road map for the sector, started the aero-magnetic survey of the country, which was completed during Architect Adegbite\u2019s tenure, and also conducted the national minerals exploration project amongst many other initiatives,\u201d Fayemi added.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-7\" style=\"margin: 8px auto; text-align: center; display: block; clear: both;\">\n<div data-advadstrackid=\"890536\" data-advadstrackbid=\"1\" class=\"infor-target\" id=\"infor-1769308877\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/300x250b.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, has disclosed that he nearly turned down ex-President Muhammdu Buhari\u2019s ministerial appointment in 2015. Fayemi served as Minister for Solid Minerals from 2015 \u2013 2018. In an interview published by ThisDay on Tuesday, Fayemi said the announcement came to him as a surprise, adding that he thought he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nigeria-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I Almost Turned Down Buhari\u2019s Ministerial Appointment In 2015 \u2014 Fayemi - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/01\/03\/i-almost-turned-down-buharis-ministerial-appointment-in-2015-fayemi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Almost Turned Down Buhari\u2019s Ministerial Appointment In 2015 \u2014 Fayemi - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, has disclosed that he nearly turned down ex-President Muhammdu Buhari\u2019s ministerial appointment in 2015. 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