A statement from the Sabah chief minister’s office said Yusof takes over from Usukan assemblyman Salleh Said Keruak.

A former Sabah chief minister, Salleh was sacked from Qhazanah last week prior to a power tussle between Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS).

After Salleh was dismissed, BN chairman Bung Moktar Radin said the coalition retracted their support for GRS chairman Hajiji Noor as he had violated a pact between BN, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) after the state elections in 2020.

Bung said BN and Umno assemblymen agreed to back Hajiji as chief minister after the polls as long as BN and Umno representatives were appointed to the state Cabinet and top posts in state government-linked companies (GLC).

However, Bung said Hajiji violated this understanding when he sacked Salleh as Qhazanah chairman without discussing it with him, adding that he was also not consulted about Hajiji’s plans to reshuffle the state Cabinet.

Yusof was one of the five Umno representatives who signed statutory declarations (SDs) supporting Hajiji as chief minister when Sabah BN pulled their support.

Meanwhile, the Sabah chief minister’s office added that Hajiji also presented an appointment letter to Tanjung Papat assemblyman Frankie Poon as Sabah Development Berhad’s chairman.

“The Sabah DAP chief’s appointment is also effective immediately.

“Hajiji hopes that they will be able to contribute to the growth of the state-owned companies,” it said in a statement.

Poon was one of the seven Pakatan Harapan (PH) assemblymen who backed Hajiji during last week’s political crisis, after which PH assemblymen Christina Liew and Phoong Jin Zhe were appointed to the state Cabinet.