The Minister of Petroleum and one of the key cabinet minister of the outgoing President, Diezani Allison-Madueke along with Marilyn Ogar, the spokesperson for the Department of State Security, DSS, made an unusual visit to the Minna home of former Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar.
The duo, according to reliable sources, was under the guise of paying Easter homage to the former ruler who is also the chairman of the National Peace Committee.
The visit to Abdulsalami at this time is being interpreted as an attempt to negotiate a soft-landing for the duo in the incoming administration under the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Allison-Madueke has been variously indicted for sleaze and corruption in the petroleum ministry but despite strident calls for her sack, the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan has continue to shield her.
On her part, Ogar became manifestly partisan and severely railed the opposition leaders, especially in the build up to the March 28 presidential election.
Ogar equally made unsubstantiated claim that the APC was sponsoring terror against the Nigerian state, among other allegations.
The DSS has been severally accused of being manipulated by the PDP to hound the opposition APC and Ogar had played several ignoble role in this context.
Though there is no official statement on the motive behind the visit, beyond the claim that it was an Easter homage (Abdulsalami is a Muslim), pundits are of the opinion that the visit was intended to lobby the retired general to help prevail on the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to soften his stance on them when he assumed office in May 29.
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