A group, the Renewed Hope Ambassadors Forum (RHAF) has warned the former Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Abdullahi T. Gwarzo, to cease attacking President Bola Tinubu following his removal from the federal cabinet.

Gwarzo and four others were relieved of their duties last month due to concerns regarding their performance in implementing the Renewed Hope Agenda for their respective ministries.

In an interview with the BBC Hausa Service on Saturday, Gwarzo claimed that his removal was politically motivated.

He questioned President Tinubu’s appointment of Yusuf Abdullahi Atta as his successor. He specifically suggested that the President should have appointed Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, the APC’s 2023 gubernatorial candidate in Kano State, instead of Atta.

Gwarzo also shared details of his private conversation with the President regarding his removal.

In response, the Renewed Hope Ambassadors Forum described Gwarzo’s remarks “as insulting to President Tinubu and the presidency, asserting that his statements revealed he was unfit for the ministerial position”.

The Kano State coordinator of the forum, Comrade Danjuma Usman Gwale, in a statement expressed dismay that Gwarzo had indirectly questioned Section 171 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which grants the President the authority to hire and fire ministers.

“We viewed the BBC interview of the sacked Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Abdullahi T. Gwarzo, as an insult and an attack on President Tinubu, who has the constitutional powers to appoint and dismiss ministers.

“For someone who has served as a minister to disclose private conversations with the President publicly is not only unfortunate and ridiculous but also unbecoming of his status.

“It indicates that he cannot be trusted. This behaviour is an insult to both the President and the presidency. He should understand the implications of sharing confidential discussions with the media, particularly those involving the President. In the first place, he may not even be qualified to be a minister,” the Forum said.

The Forum further characterised the interview as an attempt to undermine the President and warned Gwarzo to desist immediately or face appropriate consequences.

“No dropped minister in the history of this country has ever ignorantly behaved like Gwarzo.

“The usual practice for those who are knowledgeable in the practice of democracy is to thank the President for giving them the opportunity to serve and then move on with their lives, just like the rest of the ministers recently dropped by President Tinubu did.

“But Gwarzo feels that his appointment as a minister was at his behest and not at the President’s behest as enshrined in our constitution. We believe that Gwarzo needs someone to lecture him appropriately in this regard.

“His utterances are capable of undermining the President. Why is he now recommending Gawuna rather than doing so when he was nominated as a minister in 2023? He should have declined his nomination if he believed Gawuna was the right choice.

“We don’t know who told him that defeated APC gubernatorial candidates must be appointed ministers.

“His level of hypocrisy is unacceptable, and we will not tolerate it.”

Stop attacking Tinubu over your removal – Group warns sacked minister, Gwarzo