JUST IN: Ex-Minister, Saleh Mamman, Speaks On His Sack By Buhari

Former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, says it took President Muhammadu Buhari not more than two hours to make him a Nigerian minister.

Mamman made this known in an interview with BBC Hausa on Saturday, monitored by GIOTV.

GIOTV had earlier on Wednesday reported that President Buhari sacked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammed Sabo Nanono, and the Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman.

The fired ministers have since been replaced by the Minister of Environment, Dr. Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, and the Minister of State, Works & Housing, Abubakar D. Aliyu.

However, Mamman, in an interview on Saturday, said he never thought he would be made a minister as he neither solicited nor lobbied for it prior to his appointment. The former minister further denied the widely-circulated reports that he collapsed after receiving the news of his sack.

He stated that he only heard about the news on the social media like many other Nigerians, saying, “I know I am hale and hearty. Even when I received the news of the sack, I was in hospital for my regular check. Those close to me were even suggesting that I shouldn’t be told so I won’t get either heart attack or hypertension.“Some people later called me and informed me, but I told them that the president had already informed me a day earlier,” the ex-minister said.

Mamman, therefore, expressed his appreciation to President Buhari for giving him the opportunity to serve under him and promised to remain in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).