Vice- President
Yemi Osinbajo and former Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, are reportedly
upset that Buhari’s ministerial list doesn’t contain the names of their nominees. It was
learnt that the ministerial list, comprising 21 names, did not feature
any of the nominees compiled by Tinubu for the South-West, which is
regarded as his major sphere of influence.
Even in Lagos State,
which is Tinubu’s exclusive preserve, he did not have the final say on
who will represent the state in the cabinet. Rather than pick any of his
nominees for the cabinet, Buhari did it alone and even selected
Tinubu’s estranged godsons such as former Governors Babatunde Fashola
(Lagos) and Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti). Osinbajo, a protégé of Tinubu, also
failed to get Lagos-based lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Femi
Falana (SAN), on the list. Falana, from Ekiti State, was being tipped to
emerge as the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice.
Osinbajo was said to have made a case to the president
four times to consider Falana, without securing any commitment from
Buhari. Instead of Falana, the president opted for Fayemi, whom sources
said was being positioned to head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Osinbajo also rooted for Prof. Pat Utomi as a ministerial nominee for
Delta State, but the president opted for the Group Managing Director of
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.
Kachikwu will serve as Minister of State for Petroleum since the
president has said he would hold the portfolio of Minister of Petroleum
Resources.
Tinubu, who had relocated to
Abuja since Buhari came into power on May 29, hurriedly returned to
Lagos last Thursday. “Asiwaju was disappointed with the ministerial list
as none of his nominees made the Buhari’s cabinet. He felt used and
dumped,” a senior party member told New Telegraph.
Tinubu
invested his resources to prosecute the Buhari presidential election
such that the president’s wife, Aisha, said the former governor drafted
her to join the campaign train. But a source in the presidency said the
president sent copies of the ministerial list he sent to Senate
President Bukola Saraki to Tinubu and the APC National Chairman, Chief
John Odigie-Oyegun.
It was learnt that Tinubu received the
ministerial list in company of his aides and political associates,
including former Interim National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande. A
source said Tinubu ran through the ministerial list and was so surprised
that he did not utter a word.
“Tinubu just took the list and
called Chief Akande into an inner room in his Abuja residence,” the
source said. The discussion, it was learnt, centred on the ministerial
list after which Akande called the president requesting for an audience.
The president was said to have fixed a meeting for last Wednesday at
11p.m. New Telegraph learnt that at the meeting, Akande sought to know
why the president rejected Tinubu and South-West leaders’
recommendations for the ministerial list. Buhari was said to have told
Akande that since Tinubu produced the vicepresident, he has to allow
other ‘tendencies’ in the South-West to have a share of the appointments
meant for the region.
Buhari explained that since Fayemi lost
his reelection in Ekiti, he has served the party in many capacities
unlike Falana. Fayemi was the chairman of the APC National Convention in
Lagos where Buhari emerged as the party’s presidential candidate and
was the Director, Directorate of Policy and Strategy of the APC
Presidential Campaign Council. On Fashola, the president said Tinubu’s
successor was chairman of the presidential fundraising committee and he
worked more for his campaign unlike Mr. Yemi Cardoso, a former Lagos
State Commissioner that Tinubu had proposed. New Telegraph learnt that
Buhari had earlier told Fashola and Fayemi to reconcile with Tinubu to
ease their appointments. It was learnt that Fayemi, through the
intervention of Akande, met Tinubu in Lagos to rebuild their
relationship.A source said the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka,
intervened on behalf of the former governors to appease Tinubu.
The
president also justified the choice of Mr. Adebayo Shittu as Oyo State
ministerial nominee. He added that Shittu had been with him since his
days in the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Shittu, a 2007 CPC
governorship candidate in Oyo State, is not on good terms with Governor
Abiola Ajimobi. Buhari said he had to defer to Ogun State Governor,
Senator Ibikunle Amosun, on the state’s nominee, because of their
relationship since the days of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP).
While
Buhari was the ANPP’s presidential candidate in the 2007 general
elections, Amosun was the gubernatorial candidate of the party in Ogun
State. Former National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Chief Bode Mustapha, was the candidate of former President Olusegun
Obasanjo. However, Buhari agreed to cede the Osun ministerial slot to
Obasanjo’s candidate, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a former governor of
the state.
Besides the reasons adduced by the president for
rejecting Tinubu’s ministerial nominees, a group of young elements close
to the president worked against the APC leader. It was learnt that
Governors Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna) and Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), former
Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi and Pastor Tunde Bakare played
crucial roles in the choice of the ministers.
It was learnt that
the idea was to whittle down the political influence of Tinubu as
El-Rufai’s group was said to have impressed it on the president the need
to cut Tinubu to size before he takes over the government. But an
associate of Tinubu said his camp was not surprised about recent
developments. “We knew it was a conspiracy.
I can tell you
El-Rufai and Tambuwal’s marriage is that of convenience because the two
of them have presidential ambition. So, let’s see how it plays out,” the
source said. Also speaking on the ministerial list, National Publicity
Secretary of Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, stated that Tinubu had lost
out in the Buhari’s government. Odumakin said: “When a man thinks he’s
too smart, he will ultimately dribble himself. What has happened to
Tinubu is that those he launched all kinds of war against have become
the victors. He never knew that the attack he was launching against them
was a way of actually helping those people.
“President Buhari
who appointed Fashola, Fayemi and others doesn’t want people under
Tinubu’s influence in his cabinet. Now, he can’t begin to claim them
after they have been appointed despite his opposition.” Former Chairman,
Presidential Advisory Council on National Conference, Senator Femi
Okunroumu, also told New Telegraph that his prediction had come to pass
that Tinubu would be humiliated by Buhari. “I am having a good laugh.
This is what I expected. In any case, Tinubu is stretching his luck too
far as he wants to dictate who will rule Nigeria. Tinubu’s wings need to
be clipped.
With the ministerial list, Tinubu has been dumped.
He should not just be dumped, he should be disgraced,” Okurounmu told
New Telegraph. Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said he was not
surprised with Buhari’s approach to governance. “I’m not disappointed at
all. I warned before the election that Buhari would not change,
although he said he is a converted democrat.
“APC is not a party;
it is a gang of people whose sole aim was to remove Dr. Goodluck
Jonathan as president. In a real party, you share the spoils of office
before elections not after elections. This is what is happening in APC.
We warned our people, but they failed to listen,” Adebanjo said.
New
Telegraph also gathered at the weekend that ahead of tomorrow’s
screening of the ministerial nominees, lobbying had begun among
geopolitical zones to corner portfolios considered juicy for their
kinsmen. Senate President Bukola Saraki is expected to read out the full
list of 21 nominees who made the first batch of the federal cabinet
tomorrow.
Besides Fayemi and Fashola, other ministerial nominees
included Senator Chris Ngige, Amaechi, Lt-General Abdurrahman Dambazzau
(rtd), Senator Aisha Al-Hassan, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun,
Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN) and Senator Sirika Hadi.
A top party
source confided in New Telegraph that although Buhari could not be
directly approached by the nominees, their lobbyists commenced moves to
engage the services of those they considered close to the president to
make a case for them. It was gathered that the most sought after
ministries are those of Justice, Works, Finance, Defence and Interior.
For the Finance Ministry, while some powerful APC elements are already
said to have argued that the portfolio had eluded the region for too
long, APC leaders from the South-West are also making a case for one of
their own to be the next Finance Minister. Same argument is being pushed
in respect of the Agriculture Ministry.
For the Justice Ministry,
Fashola and Malami are strong contenders, even as close confidants of
the president, like Alhaji Ahmed Joda, are favourably disposed to Malami
who once served as national legal adviser of the defunct CPC. For the
Works Ministry, some APC elders were said to be rooting for Onu.
However,
some Northerner leaders were said to be rooting for a nominee from the
zone, whose name is to be in the second batch of the ministerial
nominees to be sent to the Senate. The source said: ”I think lobby is
part of politics; it is allowed like the would be ministers are said to
be doing with the senators.
We like it because as a party, we
have no intention to coerce the senators to give the nominees a blanket
clearance. Let all prove their worth before the lawmakers. ”The only
thing we find laughable is that aspect of going beyond that level to
scheme for specifics in the planned cabinet.
”You know that people
are naturally insatiable in their wants, especially when it comes to
politics, nothing is seen to be enough until the last is given out. ”As a
party, we all waited for this moment in anxiety and apprehension
because no one knew before now, I think no one still knows what is
contained there.
”But
it is curious and unexpected that some persons are already lobbying to
be made minister of this, minister for this, it is wrong because the
thing is already generating interregional concerns among the party
leadership. ”All we know is that President Buhari has picked his team.
They
have to work as a team and not what any of them desire to hold as a
portfolio. Only the president has the right to allocate offices and he
should be given the chance to so do. ”For God’s sake, what do we want a
juicy ministry for? Under the present arrangement, there is nothing like
Grade A or B ministry. So, for those who have the chance of being
nominated that are already lobbying for specific portfolios, they will
be disappointed at the end of the day.”