Enter… TEAM TINUBU

Akani Alaka

Unarguably, one of the disappointments of some critics about President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial list unveiled on Thursday will be the fact that after nearly two months in office, the former Lagos governor was not able to get at least one Nigerian across the 36 states of the country fit enough to be part of his cabinet.

The Constitution mandated the President to appoint one minister each from the 36 states of the country, though some indigenes of the Federal Capital Territory backed by some activists have also argued that the capital city should also be represented in the cabinet.

Aside from choosing one minister each from each state, some of Tinubu’s predecessors had in addition appointed nominees as representatives of each geopolitical zone, thus taking the number of ministers in their cabinet to above 40.

Indeed, the expectation was that Tinubu’s ministerial list submitted just a day before the 60 days he was mandated to submit the list to the senate will contain at least 44 names.

Contrary to that expectation, only 28 names were contained in the list read out by Senate President Godswill Akpabio some minutes after it was presented to him by the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila on Thursday.

However, The Nigerian Xpress gathered that jostling for the ticket among different irreconcilable interests, especially in states such as Kano, Adamawa and Lagos where the President hailed from may be responsible for the inability of nominees to emerge from the states.

Also, contrary to speculations, the former Kano governor who was rumoured to be one of the non-APC members that would be appointed minister, Senator Musa Kwankwaso was not on the list.
Also left out was the director-general of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Simon Lalong.

The Ministers

Those who advocated for cutting down the cost of governance through the reduction of political appointees may have been excited, but for the fact that the President said in his letter entitled, ‘Request For Confirmation Of Ministerial-Nominees,” that a second batch of nominees would be sent to the Senate in due course.

“While hoping that the additional nominations will be sent in due course I hope that the aforementioned nominees will receive the expeditious consideration and confirmation of the Senate,” the President said in the letter read by Akpabio.

Those on the list include Abubakar Momoh, Ambassador Yusuf Tukur, Arch. Ahmed Dangiwa, Hannatu Musawa, Chief Uche Nnaji, Dr Betta Edu, Dr Doris Aniche Uzoka, Senator David Umahi. Others are ex-governors Nyesom Wike, Badaru Abubakar and Nasiru El-Rufai.

Also included are Ekperipe Ekpo, Nkiru Onyeojiocha, Olubunmi Ojo, Stella Okotete and Uju Ohaneye. Others are Bello Muhammad, Dele Alake, Lateef Fagbemi, Muhammad Idris, Olawale Edun and Waheed Adelabu.
The list also has Mrs Iman Ibrahim, Prof. Ali Pate, Prof. Joseph Utsev, Senator Abubakar Kyari, Senator John Eno and Sani Abubakar Danladi.

Ministerial Tickets As Rewards

It was not certain how soon the President will send the second batch of his nominees at the time of writing this story on Tuesday.  Even then, the 28 nominees are bound to be objects of intense scrutiny as the Senate began their screening.

While some of the names were among those that are being speculated in the past few weeks, there were some surprises on the list. Some of the nominees were directly picked by the President, others were, as expected, nominated into the cabinet by their godfathers, including the governors.

However, as was speculated Wike was compensated for the roles and contributions to the controversial victory of Tinubu in Rivers State in the 2023 presidential election with his inclusion on the list.

Wike led the G-5 PDP governors whose opposition to their presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar was believed to be a major factor in the victory of Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.

However, there are fears that his appointment may lead to further crisis in the Rivers chapter of the APC as members had vowed to revolt against the party if they were neglected in the ministerial appointment. In the same vein, analysts said the inclusion of former governors Bagudu, Badaru and El-Rufai was compensation for the role they played in ensuring that the presidential ticket of APC was zoned to the Southern part of the country and Tinubu’s victory in the presidential election.

The former Kaduna, Jigawa and Kebbi State governors led their colleagues from the Northern part of the country to insist on zoning of APC ticket to the South, even when the former Chairman of the party was plotting to ensure that the ticket remained in the North.

However, not many will be excited by the inclusion of El-Rufai who was recently caught on tape boasting about how he has been able to successfully exclude the Christians in Kaduna State from governance among other controversies trailing the former governor.

In the same vein, Dave Umahi not only stepped down for Tinubu during the APC presidential primary, but he also abandoned his ambition to contest for Senate presidency at the behest of the President.

Thus, it was believed that the ministerial position was a reward for his loyalty. In the same vein, it was believed that Katsina-born Hannatu Musawa, a lawyer, politician and author who was the deputy spokesperson and Deputy Director of Public Affairs and secretary of the screening committee of the APC for the presidential aspirants was rewarded for her contribution to Tinubu’s victory.

She is in the same boat as Dr. Betta Edu, a former Cross River State commissioner for Health and National Chairman of Nigeria Health Commissioners Forum and the National Women Leader of the APC who is also on the list.

Uju Kennedy Ohanenye, the nominee from Imo announced is the only female contestant in the presidential primary of APC.

However, she stepped from the race at the party’s special convention and also asked her supporters to vote for Tinubu, a factor that may have put her in the good books of the President. Also, Stella Oketete was the National Women Leader of the APC Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).

Aside from this, some of the nominees, such as Bello Muhammad Goronyo, a former commissioner for information in Sokoto State during the tenure of Governor Aminu Tambuwal who decamped to APC just before the presidential election.

APC won the presidential election in Sokoto with a slim margin.  Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, the Nigerian Ambassador to Germany and former governorship aspirant in Bauchi State, Ahmed Dangiwa, an architect and former Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and Chief Uche Nnaji, the governorship candidate of APC in the 2023 elections in Enugu State were other nominees on the list whose appointments were believed to be influenced by their association with Tinubu.
On the contrary,  Dr Doris Aniche Uzoka, a former commissioner for finance and coordinating economy, Imo State, Ekperipe Ekpo, a former council chairman who was in the House of Representatives between 2007-2011 and a prominent chieftain of APC in Akwa Ibom State were believed to be nominated into the cabinet by their godfathers.

Nkeiruka Chidubem Onyeojiocha, a former  Federal House of Representatives member representing Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State and Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, a lawmaker representing Akoko North East/Akoko North-West Federal Constituency of Ondo State were believed to be a surprise inclusion on the ministerial list. Ekiti-born Dele Alake who is the special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on special duties, communications, and strategy was also on the ministerial list.

Olawale Edun is another long-term associate of the President nominated for ministerial appointment. However, though Edun was nominated for the Ogun slot, some members of the party in the state have insisted that he was not known.

For Oyo State, Tinubu picked Adebayo Adelabu, a former deputy governor, operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria and 2019 Oyo State gubernatorial candidate for APC for the slot.  Lateef Fagbemi, the Ijagbo, Kwara State-born Senior Advocate of Nigerian (SAN) was one of those whose inclusion on the list is receiving commendations from analysts.

Also, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim was formerly the director-general of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) was chosen to represent Nasarawa State in the cabinet. The President had reportedly convinced Bauchi-born Ali Pate, a Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University to abandon a lucrative international appointment to take over ministerial position in his cabinet some weeks ago. The other nominees are Prof. Joseph Userve,  a civil engineer and former Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Wanune, Tarka LGA of Benue State who was a commissioner in the Samuel Ortom government.

Senator Abubakar Kyari, a former senator representing Borno North Senatorial District of Borno State at the 9th National Assembly from 2015 until his resignation in April 2022 and the acting national chairman of the APC, a strong political associate of Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senator John Enoh, APC chieftain from Cross River State and Sani Abubakar Danladi, former acting governor and deputy governor of Taraba State.

There is also Abubakar Momoh, an engineer and two-time member of the House of Representatives from Etsako, Edo State who was believed to be nominated by former Governor Adams Oshiomhole and Muhammed Idris, the publisher of Blueprint Newspaper, the nominee from Niger State who was also very active during the APC presidential campaign.

Meanwhile, the President’s Chief of Staff, Gbajabiamila said Tinubu would create separate portfolios or restructure the ministries while second part comprising 13 names would be sent to the assembly. He spoke after presenting the list of nominees to Akpabio.

‘’As you know he had 60 days from time of inauguration, as stipulated in the constitution. He has fulfilled that requirement of the constitution by submitting 28 names on Thursday, July 27, 2023.

‘’As his letter stated, and was read on the floor of the Senate, the remaining names, not sure how many, probably about 12, maybe 13, will be forwarded to the Senate in the coming days.

‘’As far as the nominees themselves are concerned, and like I said, Mr President took his time to sift through those names,’’ he said.

The chief of staff said that the president decided to tow the line of tradition by not attaching the portfolio of the nominees in the letter to the senate in order to give room for reviews.

‘’As good as that sounds, it straitjackets the president to pigeonhole one person in an office or the other. What happens then if you change your mind, do you then bring the person back for screening again, because the president is at liberty to change his mind.

“For instance, if I decide I want somebody as Minister of Labour, and then after sending the name, later on, I decide that this person would actually be better with another portfolio. And meanwhile, the Senate has screened that person for that particular initial portfolio?

‘’What happens then? Do you now re-screen the person? So, a lot of these things have their merits and demerits,’’ Gbajabiamila said.