{"id":164167,"date":"2025-05-25T16:12:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T15:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/i-had-opportunity-to-be-minister-but-turned-it-down-pat-utomi"},"modified":"2025-05-25T17:21:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T16:21:04","slug":"i-had-opportunity-to-be-minister-but-turned-it-down-pat-utomi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/i-had-opportunity-to-be-minister-but-turned-it-down-pat-utomi","title":{"rendered":"I had opportunity to be minister but turned it down \u2013Pat Utomi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>An economist and political activist, Prof Pat Utomi, has disclosed that late President Umaru Musa Yar\u2019Adua offered him a ministerial appointment but he rejected it.<\/p>\n

Yar\u2019Adua served as the president of Nigeria from 2007 until his death in May 2010.<\/p>\n

Utomi claimed he declined the offer because he did not want his voice suppressed.<\/p>\n

According to the political activist, instead of accepting the offer, he suggested seven people to work in the late president\u2019s cabinet.<\/p>\n

Recall that Utomi recently launched a \u201cshadow government\u201d to serve as critique of President Bola Tinubu\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been asked to be a minister before I turned it down. The last person who did that was President Yar\u2019Adua and he went the extra mile. Two hours, he was talking to me to persuade me to join. And I said to him, it\u2019s not because I have anything against being in office. I have degrees in political science and all that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that one of the biggest challenges we have in Africa is what is called the corporatist state in post-colonial Africa. And what does this mean? It means that in African politics, there\u2019s a tendency to look for a strong voice of opposition and drag the voice into government. So, as to rubbish it or to weaken it. \u201cPresident Yar\u2019Adua said to me that he respects my view, but that he believes that I will still make a greater impact from inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was on a Friday, he closed work that day and we went to the house, his residence in the villa. I now said to him, look, I\u2019m a patriot. You can wake me up at anytime, at 2:00a.m, ask for my views and I will give it to you honestly. I told him that what he needed to do was to find seven good people and bring them in. You can count on my advice. Let those hustlers who are looking for jobs, they can contract awards. Let the seven good people man certain critical ministries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat all these hustlers who are looking for jobs can have contract awards. I emphasized that the seven people will make the government work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. An economist and political activist, Prof Pat Utomi, has disclosed that late President Umaru Musa Yar\u2019Adua offered him a ministerial appointment but he rejected it. Yar\u2019Adua served as the president of Nigeria from 2007 until his death in May 2010. Utomi claimed he declined the offer because he did not want his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":164166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[254,8736],"class_list":["post-164167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-nigeria","tag-pat-utomi"],"yoast_head":"\nI had opportunity to be minister but turned it down \u2013Pat Utomi - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An economist and political activist, Prof Pat Utomi, has disclosed that late President Umaru Musa Yar\u2019Adua offered him a ...\" \/>\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.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/i-had-opportunity-to-be-minister-but-turned-it-down-pat-utomi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I had opportunity to be minister but turned it down \u2013Pat Utomi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An economist and political activist, Prof Pat Utomi, has disclosed that late President Umaru Musa Yar\u2019Adua offered him a ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/i-had-opportunity-to-be-minister-but-turned-it-down-pat-utomi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-25T15:12:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-25T16:21:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748177491.424893.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/i-had-opportunity-to-be-minister-but-turned-it-down-pat-utomi#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/i-had-opportunity-to-be-minister-but-turned-it-down-pat-utomi\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"I had opportunity to be minister but turned it down \u2013Pat Utomi\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-25T15:12:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-25T16:21:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/i-had-opportunity-to-be-minister-but-turned-it-down-pat-utomi\"},\"wordCount\":394,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/i-had-opportunity-to-be-minister-but-turned-it-down-pat-utomi#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748177491.424893.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\",\"Pat Utomi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/i-had-opportunity-to-be-minister-but-turned-it-down-pat-utomi#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/i-had-opportunity-to-be-minister-but-turned-it-down-pat-utomi\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/i-had-opportunity-to-be-minister-but-turned-it-down-pat-utomi\",\"name\":\"I had opportunity to be minister but turned it down \u2013Pat Utomi - 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