Daily Independent Online.
*
Friday, July 02, 2004.
Tanko resumes at foreign affairs
•Adeniji heads AU exco
By Onyekachi Eze
Senior Reporter,
Abuja
Following the minor cabinet reshuffle
recently, which saw two ministers of state swapping positions, the new Minister
of State for Foreign Affairs, Mallam Abubakar Tanko, has taken over from his
predecessor and at the same time handed over to his successor at the Internal
Affairs ministry, Mallam Saidu Baralabe Samaila.
The handing over ceremony took place at the
time the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Oluyemi Adeniji in far away Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia was elected as chair of the 5th session of the African Union
(AU) executive council.
The brief ceremony held at the
ministry’s conference room was heralded by a send off party organised for
the outgoing minister by staff of the foreign ministry during which Samaila
thanked them for their support and told them to extend it to his successor.
The election of Adeniji came after wide
consultations amongst foreign ministers to constitute the bureau of the
executive council.