Lagos — The shock and consternation that greeted Wednesday's dissolution of the federal cabinet was yet to wear out yesterday as the former ministers began handing over to the permanent secretaries in their ministries.

Former minister of interior Shettima Mustapha and his minister of state Ademola Seriki said the dissolution of the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) was sudden and unexpected.

For some other ex-ministers, it was a different kettle of fish like former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister Adamu Aliero and his ex-minister of state Chuka Odum who seemed united in their last day in office.

Ex-minister of defence and chairman of the Presidential Committee on the Amnesty Programme, Major-Gen. Godwin Abbe, apologised to his former staff for occasionally shouting at them while in office.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said Acting President Goodluck Jonathan duly consulted it and received its blessing before the dissolution of the cabinet and is satisfied with the action.

"We are satisfied; we are very, very satisfied with the dissolution," the party's National Chairman Vincent Ogbulafor said.

Jonathan dissolved the 42-member EXCOF three days ago in a bid to reinvigorate the council that had been badly divided.

He gave no reasons for the dissolution, but Special Assistant to the Acting President on Media Ima Niboro said the move was to inject fresh blood and bring greater vigour to governance.

Speaking in Abuja when they handed over to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Interior, Mrs. Dere Awosika, the two former henchmen in the ministry said their sack took them unawares.

Mustapha said the council was shocked beyond words because the acting president never gave them any prior notice or briefing before dissolving the council.

"Since the man did not give us any notice, he only announced it yesterday, you can say he took us unawares, you can call it unexpected, whatever you want to call it," he said.

On his stewardship, he noted that since he became a minister for the first time 20 years ago, he had learnt a lot of lessons especially in this dispensation where he served first as minister of defence before he was redeployed to the Ministry of Interior by ailing President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

Ogbulafor, who fielded questions from State House correspondents when he came to consult with Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, said being a PDP government, there was no way the acting president would have embarked on such a major decision without the knowledge of the party.

The PDP chairman also hinted that the party would play very critical role in the reconstitution of the cabinet.

Meanwhile, the dissolution of the cabinet has brought some ministers together as one.

On their last day of performing official functions together, the two ministers in charge of FCT admitted for the first time that they had differences, but that it was for the betterment of the city.

Odum, who spoke first, said every appointment is to serve and the change is good for democracy.

Aliero, who was FCT minister, said in the 15 months they were in office, they had revived abandoned projects with some already completed, done about 20 per cent of Abuja Light Rail awarded at $840 million, funded projects in the territory via the Public Private Partnership (PPP) and raised Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to N3.5 billion as against N500 million.

He also said in their 15 months in office, the administration was able to make remarkable impact in the health, education, security and transportation sectors as well as construction of roads and opening up of new districts.

Abbe apologised to the staff of the ministry for occasionally shouting at them during the course of work, blaming it on work pressure.

Abbe alongside his former minister of state, Alhaji Abdulrahman Adamu, at the handing over ceremony conducted at the Ship House said the nine months he was at the helms of affairs at the ministry brought to fore limitations of the Defence sector.

Pressed to throw more light on this, he merely said the office carried with it heavy pressure, especially his job as chairman of the Post-Amnesty programme.

"I was happy and grateful to the ministry for the way we handled the disarmament process especially. I was happy because no shot was fired to bring about the disarmament as directed by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua," he said.

Former minister and minister of state for Education, Dr. Sam Egwu and Hajiya Aishatu

Jibril Dukku, who also handed over the affairs of the ministry to the Permanent Secretary, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi, said the ministry should continue to strive hard to meet the challenges facing the sector by implementing the Roadmap for the Education, which he formulated within three months of his appointment.

Egwu said the focus should be on improving access to quality basic and secondary education, repositioning tertiary education to be globally competitive, as well as improving quality, access and standards of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) at formal and informal levels.

Egwu spent exactly one year and three months in office, while Dukku was there for two years and nine months.

From George Oji, Bukola Olatunji, Kingsley Nwezeh and Juliana Taiwo in Abuja