Renowned Nigerian economist and political activist, Professor Pat Utomi, has revealed that he once turned down an offer to serve as a minister under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. In an interview with Sunday Sun, Utomi said he rejected the appointment to preserve his independence and maintain his ability to critique government policies freely.
According to Utomi, President Yar’Adua personally spent two hours trying to persuade him to join the cabinet. Despite the president’s persistence, Utomi felt he could contribute more meaningfully to national discourse from outside government, citing concerns over the co-opting of dissenting voices in post-colonial African politics.
“I have been asked to be a minister before. I turned it down. The last person who did that was President Yar’Adua… Two hours, he was talking to me to persuade me to join,” Utomi recalled.
He proposed instead that Yar’Adua appoint seven credible individuals to help drive reform, offering to compile and submit the list himself. Utomi later delivered the list to top government official Steve Oronsaye, but said he never received a response.
Tragically, President Yar’Adua fell ill shortly afterward and passed away in May 2010. Utomi later heard from a senior source that the president may never have received the list and might have believed Utomi had rejected him entirely.
“I didn’t snub him,” Utomi clarified. “I was told by someone very senior that he probably never got that envelope and thought I had turned my back on him when he needed support, which is not true.”
Utomi, a longtime advocate for good governance, has recently launched a “shadow government” to monitor and critique the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
