The much-awaited list of President Muhammadu Buhari’s
ministerial nominees will be released on Wednesday, the last
day of the month. Special Adviser to the President on Media
and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, disclosed this yesterday in
New York.
Adesina described Buhari as a man of his word, saying
Nigerians would not be disappointed as September, the date
given for the announcement of members of his cabinet,
remains sacrosanct.
With just three days to the end of September, the month
Buhari promised to send the list of his ministerial nominees
to the Senate for approval, his senior special a$$istant on
media and publicity, Mr. Garuba Shehu, had earlier a$$ured
that the president will keep his promise. Shehu gave the a
$$urance yesterday.
This was as Buhari’s party, All Progressives Congress,
expressed its confidence that the president would not
disappointment the citizens with regard to the appointment
of ministers and governance, generally. APC National
Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun told THISDAY yesterday by
telephone that Buhari meant well for the country and he will
do everything humanly possible to ensure good governance.
THISDAY also learnt that the president was under intense
pressure to relax his tough standards for qualifying persons
for positions in his planned cabinet to avoid alienating many
members of his party.
Shehu said, “The president had said it twice that he would
submit his ministerial list to the National a$$embly in
September. As you can see, that position has not changed.”
The presidential aide, who spoke from New York where
Buhari was attending the summit of the United Nations
General a$$embly, advised Nigerians to wait till the end of
September.
Odigie-oyegun also urged Nigerians to continue to support
the APC administration, saying the party would not shirk its
responsibility to the people.
On APC’s position on the release of the ministerial
nominees’ names this month, Odigie-Oyegun said, “There is
no cause for alarm. We are confident the president will keep
his promise. He will not disappoint Nigerians on his pledge
to provide good governance for the enhancement of the
nation.”
The national chairman also a$$ured on the readiness of the
party to galvanise support for the speedy approval of the
ministerial list when it is presented to the National a
$$embly. He said the APC members in the National a
$$embly were already aware of the need to cooperate to
ensure that nothing delayed the roll out of the
administration.
The delay by the president in the release of the ministerial
list has been attributed to a “suffocating pressure” from
some powerful political forces requesting him to shift his
ground, especially, in relation to the appointment of persons
who, though accused of corruption, have not been convicted
in court.
Buhari has consistently said he would not appoint people
with questionable character as ministers.
But this well-intended stand of the president has been
exploited by political opponents of whoever is believed to be
on the cabinet list, as all sort of petitions sometimes
containing spurious allegations have been written against
likely nominees.
An insider told THISDAY yesterday that the president was
still battling to resolve “this mor*l question.”
The source said, “President Muhammadu Buhari has
consistently told us that he would not appoint corrupt and
people with questionable characters as members of his
cabinet. But in the last few weeks, he has come under
suffocating pressure to shift his ground.
“The argument of many people is that the president would
side-line his party, the All Progressives Congress, if he
maintains his ground to appoint only clean people. This is
what has caused the delay and this is the mor*l question he
is currently battling to resolve.”
THISDAY exclusively reported yesterday that as preparation
for the submission of the ministerial list to the Senate by
Buhari heated up, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and
Buhari met on Friday at the United Nations Plaza in
downtown Manhattan, New York City. Their meeting, which
was held at the 37th floor of the plaza behind closed doors,
came on the heels of speculations that the ministerial
nominees would be announced soon. It was widely
rumoured that the discussion of the two men centred on the
appointment of ministers in the Buhari government.
A source familiar with the meeting told THISDAY, “The
leaders decided to hold the meeting to discuss key national
issues, crucial also is the ministerial list.”
The meeting came amid allegations of infighting and
differences between Obasanjo and APC national leader and
former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over the
nomination of ministers.
THISDAY learnt that at the UN General a$$embly meeting,
there were several lobbyists wanting to court Buhari’s
attention ahead of the ministerial appointments.
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