Tinubu’s List Dazes Ministerial Hopefuls, Focus Now On 2nd Batch

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has submitted the names of 28 people to the Senate for screening and confirmation.

The constitution of Nigeria provides that each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, is entitled to a minister. The president also has the discretion to appoint six more ministers from the six-geopolitical zones of the country.

The president only presented 28 names, which means that more states have not been captured in the present list.

In fact, 10 states await ministerial nomination as it stands. They are Adamawa, Bayelsa, Gombe, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Lagos, Osun, Yobe and Zamfara

However, the names of some ministerial hopefuls are missing in the list, and they will be anxiously looking forward to the second batch of ministerial list from the president. Some of them are All Progressives Congress (APC) figures who played prominent roles in the party victory at the polls in the last general elections.

Top among such figures are former Ekiti State governor Kayode Fayemi who stepped down for Tinubu during the party primary; former minister of state for Labour and Employment,  Festus Keyamo (SAN), who was a key public communications man in the election; House of Representatives member, Hon James Faleke, who was said to have given up his re-election bid to work for Tinubu’s emergence; Femi Fani-Kayode, who was a vocal defender of the party in the electoral contest; former Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong, who was the director-general of the presidential campaign and  Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a presidential candidate of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) who came fourth in the last election and is expected to be included in the government to give the cabinet a semblance of a government of national unity.

Meanwhile, while journalists were waiting for Senate President Godswill Akpabio to announce the communication between the executive and the legislative arms, Senate leader, Bamidele Opeyemi, rose through order 1a and 1b and order 12:1i which specify that former speakers will be admitted into the chamber.

Immediately, former House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, who is the chief of staff to the president, was ushered into the Chamber.

Gbajabiamila, who brought the communication instead of the special assistant to the president on National Assembly matters, handed the list to the Senate President.

Reading the list, Akpabio said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had requested the screening and confirmation of the 28 ministerial nominees on the list, and that additional names would be sent to the red chamber.

The Senate president said since the chamber had yet to constitute all the committees, it will subject the 28 nominees to the committee of the whole, meaning that the ministers will be screened in the chamber.

The ministerial nominees are: Abubakar Momoh (Edo), Yusuf Maitama Tuggar (Bauchi), Mohammed Dangiwa (Katsina), Hanatu Musawa (Katsina), Uche Nnaji (Enugu), Betta Edu (Cross River), Doris Uzoka (Imo), David Umahi (Ebonyi), Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Mohammed Badaru (Jigawa), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna),  Ekperikpe Ekpo (Akwa Ibom), Nkiru Onyejiocha (Abia), Olubunmi Ojo (Ondo), Joseph Terlummu Utseve (Benue), Ali Pate (Bauchi), Uju Ohaneye (Anambra), Stella Okotete (Delta), Dele Alake (Ekiti), John Enoh (Cross River), Abubakar Kyari (Borno), Olawale Edun (Ogun), Sani Abubakar Danladi (Taraba), Wahid Adelabu (Oyo), Lateef Fagbemi SAN (Kwara), Bello Muhammad Goronyo (Sokoto), Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim (Nasarawa), Muhammed Idris (Niger)

Why Tinubu Didn’t Attach Portfolios – Gbajabiamila

Meanwhile the chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, has explained the rationale behind the president’s decision not to attach specific portfolios to the list of ministerial nominees he submitted to the National Assembly.

Gbajabiamila told State House correspondents yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, that while attaching portfolios would have been a good thing, President Tinubu chose to maintain flexibility in assigning roles within the government.

“For me, that would have been one way to go about it; it would have been a welcome development. As good as that sounds, it straitjackets the president to pigeonhole one person in an office or the other,” Gbajabiamila explained.

He further elaborated on the potential challenges associated with attaching specific portfolios to the nominees.

He said President Tinubu wanted to retain the freedom to assess the nominees’ suitability for particular roles and, if necessary, adjust their assignments to ensure optimal functionality within the government.