Olayiwola Matthew
The Presidency has clarified that Wale Edun, former finance minister and coordinating minister of the economy as well as Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, former minister of housing and urban development voluntarily resigned from the federal executive council and were not sacked.
The clarification was issued on Wednesday by Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser to the president on information and strategy following speculation over the circumstances surrounding their exit from President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
The statement disclosed that Edun, who clocked 70 on Monday, and has battled recent ill-health, fittingly submitted his resignation letter on his birthday, thanking the President for the opportunity to serve Nigeria.
“It has been a pleasure and privilege to serve your administration and the Renewed Hope Agenda.
“Under your leadership, Nigeria has emerged stronger, more resilient and more internationally respected.
“I wish you and the administration every success in the future,” he wrote.
Onanuga said, on Tuesday, before the Office of the Secretary of the Government of the Federation (OSGF) announced his departure from the Cabinet, Edun paid a valedictory visit to the President at the Villa.
He held an hour-long discussion with the president and then left to focus on his private businesses.
For his part, Dangiwa, an architect, previously served as the managing director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria between 2015 and 2022, as well as Secretary to the Katsina State Government, before President Tinubu appointed him as housing minister in August 2023.
Edun, an economist and investment banker, served as Lagos State commissioner for finance between 1999 and 2004, during the tenure of then Governor Bola Tinubu.
Before then, he worked from 1980 to 1986 at Chase Merchant Bank (later Continental) in Lagos.
He joined the World Bank in September 1986 through the elite Young Professionals program, where he worked on economic and financial packages for several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In 1989, he co-founded Investment Banking & Trust Company Limited (now Stanbic IBTC) and served as executive director. In 1994, he founded Denham Management Limited, which has since become the Chapelhill Denham Group. He served as chairman from 2008 to 2021.
President Tinubu has expressed deep appreciation to Edun and Dangiwa for their dedicated service and significant contributions to the administration’s economic reform programme and wished them continued success in their future endeavours.
“In the same vein, the President has urged the new Minister of Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, to consolidate ongoing reforms and advance the administration’s fiscal and economic objectives with renewed focus, discipline, and innovation.
“President Tinubu will shortly send the ministerial nominee for housing, Muttaqha Rabe Darma, also from Katsina, like Dangiwa, to the Senate for confirmation,” the presidential spokesman added.
