Special report… Buhari’s Ministerial List: Matters Arising

In from Timothy Enietan-Matthews (Nation’s capital)
The much awaited ministerial list of President Muhammadu Buhari, Wednesday, finally arrived the Senate, albeit the office of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, at about 5.30 pm, several hours after the senate adjourned till Tuesday, the 6th of October, 2015.

The nation, in line with the President’s promise, had expected the Senate President to reel out the names of the those who made the much expected ministerial list during plenary last Wednesday but were disappointed.

In the nation’s capital, those who were not privileged to be at the gallery of the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, stayed glued to their television sets, waiting for the names of the Angels who were opportune to be considered a place in President Buhari’s cabinet.

However, in a move that no doubt doused the tension in the land, Saraki tweeted on his twitter handle, the receipt of the list. This singular tweet from Saraki attracted great response from Nigerians, who felt President Buhari kept to his words of letting Nigerians know the direction of his administration on or before September 30th.

However, despite the submission of the ministerial list, there were Nigerians who still feel the submission fell short of the President’s promise to Nigerians, insisting that what the President promised was the composition of his cabinet and not mere submission of the names of nominees.

Whichever way this argument is viewed, one thing that cannot be taken away from the President is his ability to forward the list to the Senate President before the expiration of the 30th September date he had set for himself.

Just as many political commentators and ardent followers of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has argued, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not set a time limit for the composition of the President’s cabinet and if he had failed to transmit the letter on Wednesday, the President wouldn’t have run foul of any known law in our books.

Though the Senate President had said the list sent to him by President Buhari will remain sealed until Tuesday when the senate will reconvene, the media is currently buzzing with names reportedly in the list. Some media organizations have gone ahead to release what they say is the authentic and confirmed names of the President’s list of nominees.

If these reported names, bandied as authentic, are to be taken seriously, then the wait and all the controversies that trailed the list may not have been worth it!

Below is the list that has been variously passed around as the authentic first batch of the President’s cabinet.

1. Babatunde Fashola (Lagos)

2. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti)

3. Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers)

4.Dr. Chris Ngige (Anambra)

5. Abdurrahman Dambazau (rtd) (Kano)

6.Ibe Kachikwu (Delta)

7. Ogbonaya Onu (Abia)

8. Kemi Adeosun (Ogun)

9. Abubakar Malami SAN (Kebbi)

10. Senator Sirika Hadi (Katsina)

11. Barrister Adebayo Shittu (Oyo)

12. Sulaiman Adamu (Jigawa)

13. Solomon Dalong (Plateau)

6. Aisha AlHassan (Taraba)

15. Osagie Ehanire (Edo

17. Udoma Udo-Udoma (Akwa Ibom)

18. Ahmed Isa Ibeto (Niger)

19. Ibrahim Jibril

20. Audu Ogbeh (Benue)

21. Amina Mohammed (Kaduna)

Aside the fact that about 14 states of the federation are already asking questions why their states were not represented in the list, thought to be the first batch, many political commentators are saying there is nothing surprising or inspiring in it.

Reacting to the names on the list, the Publicity Secretary of the Yoruba Socio- political group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said that the President would have submitted the names of ministerial nominees at Eagle Square (on May 29,) rather than to the Senate.

According to him: “There is no excitement or surprise in the list. They are mostly run of the mill people that do not warrant waiting four months to have. Those names could have been submitted at Eagles square on May 29.”

Odumakin may be largely seen as an un-repentant critic of the young Buhari administration but close watchers of the list will agree that most names therein are not surprising, as many have argued that they are names that have been variously bandied as potential ministerial nominees.

For many, names such as Babatunde Fashola, the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Rotimi Ameachi, who served as the Director General of the Buhari campaign, Ogbonaya Onu, a former governor, Senator Chris Ngige, General Abdulramman Danbazau and Kayode Fayemi, former governor of Ekiti State and Director Research, Buhari campaign, came to no one as a surprise, or the saintly technocrats the current administration made many believe it was shopping for.

No one, in his right mind, will doubt the abilities of Fashola, Amaechi, Fayemi or Danbazua. But Nigerians, given the postulations of the present government, did not expect most of the names on the list. Nigerians were, at best, expecting a clean break from the past and a list of technocrats, Nigerians who have not been tainted heavily by the politics of the past years and do not have any morale baggage that may call to question, their commitment and loyalty to the change agenda.

In all honesty, the President has a task, an uneasy one, to impress it on Nigerians that he can assemble a team that can make the change he promised happen. This can only be done with those he will nominate to fill the remaining ministerial slots.

In from Timothy Enietan-Matthews (Nation’s capital)
The much awaited ministerial list of President Muhammadu Buhari, Wednesday, finally arrived the Senate, albeit the office of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, at about 5.30 pm, several hours after the senate adjourned till Tuesday, the 6th of October, 2015.

The nation, in line with the President’s promise, had expected the Senate President to reel out the names of the those who made the much expected ministerial list during plenary last Wednesday but were disappointed.

In the nation’s capital, those who were not privileged to be at the gallery of the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, stayed glued to their television sets, waiting for the names of the Angels who were opportune to be considered a place in President Buhari’s cabinet.

However, in a move that no doubt doused the tension in the land, Saraki tweeted on his twitter handle, the receipt of the list. This singular tweet from Saraki attracted great response from Nigerians, who felt President Buhari kept to his words of letting Nigerians know the direction of his administration on or before September 30th.

However, despite the submission of the ministerial list, there were Nigerians who still feel the submission fell short of the President’s promise to Nigerians, insisting that what the President promised was the composition of his cabinet and not mere submission of the names of nominees.

Whichever way this argument is viewed, one thing that cannot be taken away from the President is his ability to forward the list to the Senate President before the expiration of the 30th September date he had set for himself.

Just as many political commentators and ardent followers of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has argued, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not set a time limit for the composition of the President’s cabinet and if he had failed to transmit the letter on Wednesday, the President wouldn’t have run foul of any known law in our books.

Though the Senate President had said the list sent to him by President Buhari will remain sealed until Tuesday when the senate will reconvene, the media is currently buzzing with names reportedly in the list. Some media organizations have gone ahead to release what they say is the authentic and confirmed names of the President’s list of nominees.

If these reported names, bandied as authentic, are to be taken seriously, then the wait and all the controversies that trailed the list may not have been worth it!

Below is the list that has been variously passed around as the authentic first batch of the President’s cabinet.

1. Babatunde Fashola (Lagos)

2. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti)

3. Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers)

4.Dr. Chris Ngige (Anambra)

5. Abdurrahman Dambazau (rtd) (Kano)

6.Ibe Kachikwu (Delta)

7. Ogbonaya Onu (Abia)

8. Kemi Adeosun (Ogun)

9. Abubakar Malami SAN (Kebbi)

10. Senator Sirika Hadi (Katsina)

11. Barrister Adebayo Shittu (Oyo)

12. Sulaiman Adamu (Jigawa)

13. Solomon Dalong (Plateau)

6. Aisha AlHassan (Taraba)

15. Osagie Ehanire (Edo

17. Udoma Udo-Udoma (Akwa Ibom)

18. Ahmed Isa Ibeto (Niger)

19. Ibrahim Jibril

20. Audu Ogbeh (Benue)

21. Amina Mohammed (Kaduna)

Aside the fact that about 14 states of the federation are already asking questions why their states were not represented in the list, thought to be the first batch, many political commentators are saying there is nothing surprising or inspiring in it.

Reacting to the names on the list, the Publicity Secretary of the Yoruba Socio- political group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said that the President would have submitted the names of ministerial nominees at Eagle Square (on May 29,) rather than to the Senate.

According to him: “There is no excitement or surprise in the list. They are mostly run of the mill people that do not warrant waiting four months to have. Those names could have been submitted at Eagles square on May 29.”

Odumakin may be largely seen as an un-repentant critic of the young Buhari administration but close watchers of the list will agree that most names therein are not surprising, as many have argued that they are names that have been variously bandied as potential ministerial nominees.

For many, names such as Babatunde Fashola, the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Rotimi Ameachi, who served as the Director General of the Buhari campaign, Ogbonaya Onu, a former governor, Senator Chris Ngige, General Abdulramman Danbazau and Kayode Fayemi, former governor of Ekiti State and Director Research, Buhari campaign, came to no one as a surprise, or the saintly technocrats the current administration made many believe it was shopping for.

No one, in his right mind, will doubt the abilities of Fashola, Amaechi, Fayemi or Danbazua. But Nigerians, given the postulations of the present government, did not expect most of the names on the list. Nigerians were, at best, expecting a clean break from the past and a list of technocrats, Nigerians who have not been tainted heavily by the politics of the past years and do not have any morale baggage that may call to question, their commitment and loyalty to the change agenda.

In all honesty, the President has a task, an uneasy one, to impress it on Nigerians that he can assemble a team that can make the change he promised happen. This can only be done with those he will nominate to fill the remaining ministerial slots.

In from Timothy Enietan-Matthews (Nation’s capital)
The much awaited ministerial list of President Muhammadu Buhari, Wednesday, finally arrived the Senate, albeit the office of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, at about 5.30 pm, several hours after the senate adjourned till Tuesday, the 6th of October, 2015.

The nation, in line with the President’s promise, had expected the Senate President to reel out the names of the those who made the much expected ministerial list during plenary last Wednesday but were disappointed.

In the nation’s capital, those who were not privileged to be at the gallery of the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, stayed glued to their television sets, waiting for the names of the Angels who were opportune to be considered a place in President Buhari’s cabinet.

However, in a move that no doubt doused the tension in the land, Saraki tweeted on his twitter handle, the receipt of the list. This singular tweet from Saraki attracted great response from Nigerians, who felt President Buhari kept to his words of letting Nigerians know the direction of his administration on or before September 30th.

However, despite the submission of the ministerial list, there were Nigerians who still feel the submission fell short of the President’s promise to Nigerians, insisting that what the President promised was the composition of his cabinet and not mere submission of the names of nominees.

Whichever way this argument is viewed, one thing that cannot be taken away from the President is his ability to forward the list to the Senate President before the expiration of the 30th September date he had set for himself.

Just as many political commentators and ardent followers of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has argued, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not set a time limit for the composition of the President’s cabinet and if he had failed to transmit the letter on Wednesday, the President wouldn’t have run foul of any known law in our books.

Though the Senate President had said the list sent to him by President Buhari will remain sealed until Tuesday when the senate will reconvene, the media is currently buzzing with names reportedly in the list. Some media organizations have gone ahead to release what they say is the authentic and confirmed names of the President’s list of nominees.

If these reported names, bandied as authentic, are to be taken seriously, then the wait and all the controversies that trailed the list may not have been worth it!

Below is the list that has been variously passed around as the authentic first batch of the President’s cabinet.

1. Babatunde Fashola (Lagos)

2. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti)

3. Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers)

4.Dr. Chris Ngige (Anambra)

5. Abdurrahman Dambazau (rtd) (Kano)

6.Ibe Kachikwu (Delta)

7. Ogbonaya Onu (Abia)

8. Kemi Adeosun (Ogun)

9. Abubakar Malami SAN (Kebbi)

10. Senator Sirika Hadi (Katsina)

11. Barrister Adebayo Shittu (Oyo)

12. Sulaiman Adamu (Jigawa)

13. Solomon Dalong (Plateau)

6. Aisha AlHassan (Taraba)

15. Osagie Ehanire (Edo

17. Udoma Udo-Udoma (Akwa Ibom)

18. Ahmed Isa Ibeto (Niger)

19. Ibrahim Jibril

20. Audu Ogbeh (Benue)

21. Amina Mohammed (Kaduna)

Aside the fact that about 14 states of the federation are already asking questions why their states were not represented in the list, thought to be the first batch, many political commentators are saying there is nothing surprising or inspiring in it.

Reacting to the names on the list, the Publicity Secretary of the Yoruba Socio- political group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said that the President would have submitted the names of ministerial nominees at Eagle Square (on May 29,) rather than to the Senate.

According to him: “There is no excitement or surprise in the list. They are mostly run of the mill people that do not warrant waiting four months to have. Those names could have been submitted at Eagles square on May 29.”

Odumakin may be largely seen as an un-repentant critic of the young Buhari administration but close watchers of the list will agree that most names therein are not surprising, as many have argued that they are names that have been variously bandied as potential ministerial nominees.

For many, names such as Babatunde Fashola, the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Rotimi Ameachi, who served as the Director General of the Buhari campaign, Ogbonaya Onu, a former governor, Senator Chris Ngige, General Abdulramman Danbazau and Kayode Fayemi, former governor of Ekiti State and Director Research, Buhari campaign, came to no one as a surprise, or the saintly technocrats the current administration made many believe it was shopping for.

No one, in his right mind, will doubt the abilities of Fashola, Amaechi, Fayemi or Danbazua. But Nigerians, given the postulations of the present government, did not expect most of the names on the list. Nigerians were, at best, expecting a clean break from the past and a list of technocrats, Nigerians who have not been tainted heavily by the politics of the past years and do not have any morale baggage that may call to question, their commitment and loyalty to the change agenda.

In all honesty, the President has a task, an uneasy one, to impress it on Nigerians that he can assemble a team that can make the change he promised happen. This can only be done with those he will nominate to fill the remaining ministerial slots.

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