Adebayo Shittu, former minister of communications, says some of the female ministers in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet dress like beauty pageant contestants.
Shittu said this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Wednesday.
At the opening of a three-day retreat for ministers and presidential aides on Wednesday, Tinubu warned that ministers who do not deliver on their assignments and set targets will be sent packing from the federal cabinet.
Asked what he made of the president’s warning to members of his team, Shittu said: “I’m happy that President Tinubu appointed a number of female ministers but my impression whenever I see them on television is as if they are going to beauty competitions based on the type of dresses they wear”.
He said there is a need for all ministers to show that they are serious about the business of governance.
“I think there is need for us (APC) as a government to show more seriousness in the assignments that we have in this government,” he said.
COMPARING LEADERSHIP STYLES
Shittu who served as the minister of communications under former President Muhammadu Buhari from 2015 to 2019, also compared the leadership styles of his former boss and Tinubu.
He said Buhari did not issue threats of sack to his ministers, adding that the former president did not supervise his appointees.
Shittu said the warning Tinubu issued to his appointees during the retreat would make them sit up.
The former minister said Tinubu’s warning to the ministers shows that he intends to do things differently.
He said Buhari was the kind of president who handed assignments to appointees without demanding feedback or results.
“Buhari did not give anybody any threat. Buhari is not Tinubu and Tinubu is not Buhari,” he said.
“With all due respect to him, Buhari is a more reserved person. He is one person who gives a job and rarely never ask how you are going about it.
“It is unfortunate but I have to say this for national interest so that the government coming after him will learn lessons.
“Once you are there, you are there. If you are in Buhari’s government, if you don’t go and meet him, probably in the next four years, he will not ask about you.
“In terms of policy formulation and supervision, we rarely did not have such thing. I’m happy that President Tinubu is trying to do things differently.”
FASHOLA’S TAKE ON LEADERSHIP STYLES
In April, Babatunde Fashola, former minister of works and housing, had also described Buhari as a leader who delegates and moves on, and Tinubu as a nocturnal boss who micromanages. “One delegates completely, the other delegates and stays with you,” Fashola said.
“I was speaking with somebody and I said imagine there are two football coaches; President Muhammadu Buhari is the type of football coach that will prepare his team, sit in the dugout and watch them play for 90 minutes.
“He (Buhari) trusts them to do the work and believes there is nothing he can do. Asiwaju will be that kind of coach playing the game with them (players) on the field.”