Nigeria’s Senate has officially unveiled the list of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees, which expectedly has generated a lot of reactions from members of the public.
The names read out by the Senate President Bukola Saraki included: Babatunde Fashola, Rotimi Amaechi, Kayode Fayemi, Chris Ngige, APC National publicity secretary Lai Mohammed, Senator Udo Udoma Udo, Abubakar Salami SAN, Ogbonna Onu, Aisha Alhassan, Abdulrahman Dambazzau, Kemi Adeosun, Adebayo Shittu, Solomon Dalong, Audu Ogbeh, Amina Ibrahim, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Suleiman Adamu,, Ibrahim Usman Jubril.
Since the announcement was made,. Reactions have been mixed. While some Nigerians have commended the President for his choice of persons, others simply took to the streets. Some opposition political parties have also jumped into the fray, wagging their tongues. The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) simply went to Rivers State and instigated a petition against the person of former Governor Rotimi Amaechi who was the Director General of the Presidential Campaign Committee that saw Muhammadu Buhari to victory in the March polls.
Why should people oppose the nomination of Chibuike Amaechi when they know that he was the arrow head of the delivery of President Buhari at the polls. All Nigerians know the battle he fought with ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience who were desperate to nail Amaechi at all cost. The roforofo fight was what produced Chief Nyisom Wike as Governor and all three Senators who massively rigged the polls in Rivers State with the aid of Jonathan and his wife.
Today, the three Senators were quick to send a petition with unsubstantiated allegations not proven in any court of law to the Senate of the Federal Republic. The three Senators are equally saying they would not endorse his nomination as required by the rules set by the Senate for the screening exercise.
Methinks that the Senate of the Federal Republic should discountenance the petition and give Rotimi Amaechi a special waiver and clear him as a Minister. Here is a young man that pass for a youth and who performed excellently well in Rivers State until Jonathan and his wife hired thugs to derail his administration. The Senate should not allow itself to be used as an extension of the PDP to derail President Muhammadu Buhari from delivering his promised change to Nigerians.
Notable Nigerians have lauded the nominees chosen by Mr. President. Erudite Comrade Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiombole, praised President Muhammadu Buhari for nominating quality hands as Ministers. Oshiomhole said ” the nominees will truly drive the desired change needed for the country to move forward.
“The future that I see and the future that President Buhari is determined to build is the one in which there would be strong relationship between effort and reward and your effort can only flow from what you know. It cannot flow from what you don’t know and it cannot flow from who you know.” Oshiomhole said and it remains an incontrovertible statement of fact.
The Labour Party felt that it was time to whip up sentiments as they claimed that the 21 list submitted did not include youths. They claim that the man being from the old chip went for persons higher in age. But such commentary is unnecessary because the man has assured Nigerians that a second batch is coming. You do not preempt a man who says he would be fair to all Nigerians. Certainly in his second batch some more younger Nigerians would definitely make the list. So, people must desist from playing politics with Buhari’s ministerial list.
Here was a Muhammadu Buhari who on assumption of office assured Nigerians that he would bring about the desired change in all facets of our nation. People are quarrelling with his ministerial nominees when failure or success, he stands to take the credit or blame. Why not Nigerians allow him chose his ministers and if he succeeds, we applaud him, if he fails, we put the blame squarely at his doorsteps.
Some, like Senate Minority whip, Godswill Akpabio raised the issue of constitutionality of the number of nominees and was going to use that to stop the debate on the list. This in itself is foolhardy because on submission of the list, the man said he would send a second batch. Besides, the man has raised some strong points on the cost of governance which has been too high. He is targeting reducing the number of ministries and reduce the overhead cost of the federal government which has always assumed almost 80% of the nation’s annual budget under the PDP government.
National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement said “going by the names on the list, it shouldn’t have taken the president six months to assemble the team. The party said the list and the length of time it took further confirmed the fact that the APC-led administration was driven by propaganda and deceit, a development that he said raised doubts on the sincerity of its anticorruption crusade.”
What has a ministerial list got to do with anti-corruption campaign? Who among the nominees have been indicted of corruption by a court of competent jurisdiction and not just a witch hunting committee? How far did the PDP fight corruption in Nigeria? We recall that Goodluck Jonathan as President on the platform of the PDP told Nigerians that there is a world of difference between corruption and stealing public money. He (Jonathan) said stealing public money was not corruption. Oliseh Methuh and his PDP kept sealed lips. They defended him all through the six wasted years of mindless stealing of our common patrimony. Now the arrow heads of the government are being called to answer for their sins. It is either they are struck by Cancer or Cardiac arrest. These point to the fear of Buhari on corruption. There was no corrupt Nigerian that was afraid of PDP’s Jonathan. That is why they colluded to bleed the nation of its resources.
President Buhari, I am confident, is looking at the possibility of merging some ministries departments and agencies of government and when another set of ministers are appointed, they would be drafted to deputise the ministers in the ministries that would be named. He wants to cut down the cost of governance and give Nigerians the best of democracy dividends.
It is my considered view that the Senate should approve the list sent to it by President Muhammadu Buhari and hold him responsible to Nigerians on his choices. Nobody should be allowed to play politics with the list.
• Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
