Minister of Trade and Investment, Udo Udoma, and Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, reportedly expressed serious anxiety over the details of several of the agreements the Buhari planned on signing with the UAE and almost got fired.The ministers counseled the president not to sign those deals because they felt that Nigeria gave away too much in terms of its bilateral economic interests in order to achieve President Buhari’s main goal recovering of stolen money and extradition of criminals hiding in the UAE.The sources disclosed that the president was not interested in his ministers’ arguments that the economic agreements between Nigeria and the UAE were weighted against Nigeria’s interests.
“Mr. President was focused on doing whatever was necessary to repatriate stolen funds and extradite criminals hiding in the UAE,” said one source.
He added: “He was so concerned about that sole issue that he became incensed about the warning from some members of his team.”
Buhari reportedly announced his readiness to relieve Mrs. Adeosun and Mr. Udoma of their responsibilities if they did not stop their opposition to the pacts.