Former presidential aide Laolu Akande has alleged that some people around President Bola Tinubu do not want former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola in the current administration because he would not tolerate certain practices.

Akande made the claim during an interview on the Naija Unfiltered Podcast, where he discussed Tinubu’s government and the perceived strained relationship between the president and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

According to him, Fashola’s absence from the administration may partly be due to fatigue, but resistance from some people in the president’s circle could be a more significant factor.

“I think the reason why Fashola is not in this government, two reasons. I think Fashola himself has a bit of fatigue, more importantly, I think there are people around the president who don’t want to see Fashola because Fashola is not going to tolerate many of those things that you are seeing around,” he said.

Akande described Fashola as a principled politician who stands his ground and would not compromise to accommodate practices he considers unacceptable.

“Whatever you say about Fashola, he doesn’t take nonsense and the people who wanted to get some nonsense going, they didn’t want Fashola,” he added.

However, Akande maintained that Fashola remained close to Tinubu, noting that the two politicians had not had any major public confrontation.

He suggested, nonetheless, that there could be underlying tensions in their relationship despite the absence of an open disagreement.

Fashola served as Lagos State governor from 2007 to 2015 before joining the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

He initially served as Minister of Power, Works and Housing before becoming Minister of Works and Housing following the restructuring of the ministry.

Fashola has not held any position in Tinubu’s administration.