4 options before minister after leaked letter

Just when we thought things couldn’t get any tougher for the Muhammadu Buhari led administration, Minister of State for Petroleum, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu--had his letter which was addressed to the president--leaked.

The letter accused NNPC GMDMaikanti Baru of insubordination, disrespect and on his way to running the parastatal aground—with an alleged N9trillion contract scam in the NNPC, thrown in for effect.

That leaked letter probably revealed that Kachikwu has had enough.

Now, the first class graduate of law from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and former Executive Vice Chairman and General Counsel of Exxon Mobil (Africa), has a few options before him.

Here there are:

1. Remain in the cabinet

At the time of writing, Kachikwu is reportedly locked in a meeting with the president with contents of that leaked memo certain to dominate the agenda.

If talks between Buhari and Kachikwu pan out well, he could well choose to remain as a member of the Buhari cabinet.

However, should he choose to remain, Kachikwu will love concessions and assurances to the effect that NNPC boss Baru will stop undermining him on the job.

Once he’s been assured by the president that Baru will be spoken to and reminded who’s boss, Kachikwu may well stay on or....

2. Ask to be transferred to another ministry

If Kachikwu is certain that he can no longer work with Baru or that he’s sick of the sight of the NNPC boss, he’ll probably ask for a new role within the Buhari cabinet—a role that has nothing to do with oil.

That means Buhari will nicely ask Kachikwu about his preferences in a reshuffled cabinet.

Word from the grapevine is that a cabinet reshuffle is imminent. In which case, Buhari will just ask the Minister of State for Petroleum to bide his time in the cabinet pending when that reshuffle happens—that’s if it ever happens.

Or….

3. Kachikwu tenders his resignation

There’s a school of thought that says now that the confidential memo is out there and making the rounds, the Masters and Doctorate degrees holder from Harvard, will consider his ego severely bruised and throw in the towel.

For all his trendy suits, media savvy and bespoke apparel, Kachikwu can be a very proud man. Those who work with him say he loves to do things his way.

He’ll probably think that whoever leaked that letter did so to further embarrass him and subject him to public ridicule.

Kachikwu may also think that Baru has undermined him to the point where he can’t take it no more.

So, he’ll start writing his resignation letter wherein he’ll thank the president for handing him an opportunity to serve.

That letter may be tendered sooner than we think.

Just in case this scenario never happens, Kachikwu can then….

4. Wait to be fired

Unconfirmed reports say Kachikwu and Baru were already on the chopping block, anyway. That the president had long penciled the duo for the sack.

Kachikwu, we’ve been told, has been accused of running a corrupt syndicate within the oil ministry with his brother, Dumebi Kachikwu, as the point man. He’s denied these allegations in the past.

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However, we’ve been told that his rebuttals are not enough to save him his job.

We've been told that Buhari, who is the petroleum minister, will love to do away with Kachikwu before the Diezani scenario returns to the country’s oil sector.

Which of the above options will Kachikwu take?