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The weekly Federal
Executive Council meeting was yesterday shelved when no minister showed
up at the presidential council chambers hall, venue of the meeting.

No reasons were
given for the postponement of the meeting, but a presidency source said
it might have to do with the presidential campaign of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), which ended yesterday in Jigawa and Kano states.

The campaign tour,
which lasted for more than a month, affected the attendance of the
ministers at the weekly meeting where issues concerning governance and
the country are discussed and decisions taken.

The last two
council meetings were presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo
while the president continued his campaign. Last week’s meeting
witnessed a scanty turnout of ministers. Since the start of the
campaign, the memos discussed during the meetings have dropped to
almost zero, with the time spent at such meetings ranging from 20
minutes to one hour as against the usual two hours and more.

Over the past five
weeks, President Goodluck Jonathan and Mr. Sambo have campaigned across
the six geo political zones, with several ministers in tow.

Do your job

Mr. Jonathan had,
during the zonal tour, advised members of the cabinet not to allow the
campaign to affect their performance in their different ministries. He
also said that they could attend the campaign in their various zones or
states rather than striving to be at all of the campaign rallies.

The state tour,
which started on the 16th of February, took the president’s team to
Taraba, Plateau and Benue states in the first week; Kogi, Kwara, Niger,
Imo, Abia, Ebonyi and Anambra states in the second week; Ogun, Lagos,
Ondo, Ekiti, Osun states in the third week; and then Cross River, Akwa
Ibom, Edo, Bayelsa, Sokoto states.

The tour ended with Yobe, Borno, Gombe, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano and Jigawa.