Assistant Politics Editor, DANIEL KANU, takes a look at President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial list and matters arising from it.
The long-awaited ministerial list from President Muhammadu Buhari was unveiled on Tuesday, October 6, at the Senate chamber during which the names of the 21 nominees were read out by the Senate President Bukola Saraki.
Remarkably, the list was presented to Saraki on September 30 by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, and the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly (Senate), Ita Enang.
Incidentally, they were names that had been speculated in the media, despite denials from government quarters.
The Senate is expected to commence their screening on Tuesday, October 13.
Many had expected the screening exercise to commence immediately, but the Senate acted to the contrary. The one-week step-down, TheNiche gathered, was to enable the lawmakers to be furnished with necessary information about the nominees, so as to be able to pose informed questions to them during screening.
It is the first batch of the list, as Buhari is expected to forward another list of not less than 15 nominees which is expected to take care of the states that are yet to have representation.
Expectedly, mixed reactions and protests trailed the presentation of the names. While many are of the opinion that the list was not worth the long wait, some commended the action. Some are however wondering why Buhari did not send the entire names the same time given the fact that the face of new technocrats and youths he promised to inject into the new cabinet were totally absent.
A commentator who asked not to be mentioned had remarked: “If he could use close to six months to produce the list that comprised known faces, it means he will use the next one year to complete the remaining names that will make the second list.”
Although critics have come down heavily on the list, saying that most of the nominees, on account of their antecedents, may not usher in the expected change, there are some optimists that still think that until Buhari unveils the full list, it would be hasty in passing a verdict of unsound judgement on him.
Ministers-designate on parade
On the list of the nominees are former Governors Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) Senator Chris Ngige (Anambra) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers)
The National Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC), Lai Mohammed (Kwara); former PDP National Chairman, Audu Ogbeh (Benue) and Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu (Delta) are also on the list.
Others include: Senator Hadi Sirika (Katsina); Abubakar Malami (Kebbi); Abdurahman Bello Dambazau (Kano), Aisha Al-Hassan (Taraba); Adebayo Shittu (Oyo); Solomon Dalong (Plateau); Amina Ibrahim (Kaduna); Osagie Ehanire (Edo); Sulaiman Adamu (Jigawa); Kemi Adeosun (Ogun), Ahmed Ibeto (Niger); Ibrahim Jibril (Nasarawa) and Udoma Udo-Udoma (Akwa- Ibom).
Opposition kicks
It was obvious the list would generate its storm.
Opposition political parties and some socio-political groups, after the unveiling of the list by Saraki on Tuesday, said the list did not worth the long wait by Nigerians.
The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) among other parties as well as the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, were some of the groups that said the list did not show any surprise.
PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, argued that Buhari’s delay in constituting his cabinet could not be justified.
The party noted that, “By a mere look at the list, one can tell that there is nothing to be excited about, especially considering the length of time it took the president to come up with it.
“Looking at the list; it is hard to put a finger on why it should take any serious-minded and focused government six months after its election to assemble such a regular team.”
The PDP noted further that the list and the length of time it took to present it had further confirmed that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration was driven by sheer propaganda and deceit, a development the party said raised doubts about the sincerity of the government’s anti-corruption crusade.
National Chairman of LP, Abdulsalam Abdulkadir, also said the list was filled with “recycled politicians and individuals”.
He is of the view that many of the names were analog politicians that are out of tune with modern day reality.
Abdulkadir said: “From Independence till date, the same people are being recycled. Governors who ruled their states recklessly are on the list. They never considered any youth worthy of being a minister. Many of them are analog and are not in tune with modern day expectations.
“None of the ministerial nominees can meet our yearnings and expectations. It is very unfortunate that President Muhammadu Buhari will delay Nigerians for five months just for a list of recycled people and 21 names for ministerial positions. The implication is that before he brings the rest, four years tenure would have gone. This has shown Nigerians that nothing good will come from Buhari and the APC.
“This is to show Nigerians that the change mantra is fake; there is no sincerity of purpose there and no commitment to the Nigerian cause. They just deceived Nigerians with ‘change, change’ slogan and won the heart of Nigerians. They do not seem to have anything new to offer.”
In similar vein, National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, observed that there was no fresh face on the list who can at least give hope that indeed a new dawn has come.
Odumakin said: “One would have loved to see fresh faces who can at least offer hope. The list is however replete with a lot of faces that have been active part of the rot of the past years. There are persons perching on mountains of corruption and we can only hope that the Senate has enough resolve to do a proper screening. These are all Genesis people and not Revelation.”
Nominees in acid test
Since the announcement of the names, protests and petitions have commenced at different state levels against some of the nominees.
Although TheNiche gathered that some of the protests were politically motivated there are some that are based on facts on ground.
In Lagos, from the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders did a petition to the Senate against the nomination of Fashola. CACOL’s petition had been dated Saturday, October 3, asking the Senate not to confirm the former governor, if his name ever came up.
In the petition signed by the organisation’s Executive Head, Debo Adeniran, copies of which were said to be sent to Buhari and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, the group urged the senators to visit Lagos, recently governed by Fashola, before screening and confirming him for any appointment as a minister.
“Visit the Lagos Fashola left behind before confirming his appointment as minister” is the title of the group’s petition in which read in part, “Howbeit, if the rumour making the rounds in some quarters, which has also been confirmed by some sections of the media, is anything to go by, we would say Nigerians’ hope for a true change has been dashed with the inclusion of some names that in a saner environment should not appear on the list, if integrity and honesty are the basis of the selection criteria.
“We are therefore constrained at this point in time to bring to your attention our critical reaction to the nomination of the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, as a minister in the new government.”
The group catalogued a number of fraud and corruption allegations, most of which it had before now levelled against Fashola.
Bisola Adeniyi, Lagos legal practitioner, however told TheNiche that “Fashola more than any other governor in the country raised the bar of leadership and left visible evidence of good governance. Some people who are not happy with the rise of Fashola are making frantic efforts to rubbish his achievements. We all knew how Lagos was before Fashola and the giant strides he left behind. All efforts to bring him down cannot work. Let Fashola contest election under any political platform in Lagos, he will floor every other contestant”.
Rotimi Amaechi, former Rivers governor, is also under huge stress as an anti-corruption group known as Integrity Group (IG) has petitioned the President and the Senate protesting his nomination.
IG accused Amaechi of alleged duplicitous practices during his tenure as governor.
The group urged Amaechi to first clear his name over “allegations of fraud concerning the sale of state power plants and conversion of proceeds of $302m, unlawful payment of over N4 billion to Clinoriv Specialist Hospital and unlawful enrichment of a firm, Messrs. Collect Nigeria Ltd. with public funds amounting to over N1.5bn.”
Publicity Director of the group, Livingstone Wechie, alleged that Amaechi was currently being investigated by anti-corruption agencies for unlawful enrichment and conversion of over N70bn state resources.
In Oyo State, the ruling party, APC, has asked Buhari to revisit his nomination of a legal practitioner, Adebayo Shittu, claiming that the ministerial-nominee was not a team player in the party.
It was gathered that the state Governor Abiola Ajimobi was opposed to Shittu’s choice.
The party is said to be irked on the nomination of Shittu, complaining that despite the state’s contribution to Buhari’s victory at the poll, it was not being adequately compensated.
Nigerians react
Senator Jeremiah Useni, told journalists in Abuja that having only three women on the ministerial list was not good enough.
“I wish to see more women on the list. I believe that the President will be more gender sensitive in the next batch since he said the 21 names he sent is a partial list,” he said.
Senator representing Delta North, Peter Nwaoboshi, said the list was not inspiring. He expressed disappointment that it contained names of older men and women who had served as ministers about 36 years ago.
According to him, “I think the youths of Nigeria should ask questions. How can people who served as ministers during the former President Shehu Shagari’s administration in 1979 be presented as ministers? I was a small boy when a particular nominee was minister about 36 years ago. You are bringing the person to be minister now. One would have expected that the younger generation would have been injected into the list. I wonder where we are going to in this country. When will the youths be given opportunity?
“We already know all the people in the list. They are governors who just finished their tenure after eight years. Is that the change they are talking about? It is left for Nigerians to judge’’. Audu Ogbeh, one of the nominees, was a minister in the Shagari administration.
Human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, said nothing was inspiring about the list, noting that all the nominees were familiar faces.
The lawyer said, “The impression that the President gave to everyone was that he was searching out for ‘saints’ to work with him. We could not have wasted the past three months waiting for Fayemi, Fashola, Amaechi, Ngige and Audu Ogbeh. These are people who had worked with the President, whose names he should have compiled even before he was sworn in.
“There was thus no need for all the hype and melodrama about the ministerial list, in the manner that the President has kept the whole nation in such frenetic suspense and deliberate guesswork.
“They all appear to be people of conscience, on the face of it, who ordinarily should help midwife a new Nigeria, but given the internal contradictions currently plaguing the ruling APC, then we may not expect any miracle from those names already announced,” he said.
