Ministerial list: Buhari dumps 73 nominees from states

Governors and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) should expect the shock of their lives as Presi­dent Muhammadu Buhari prepares to unveil members of his much expected cabinet with several of the over 73 nom­inees submitted from across the states conspicuously missing from the list.

Saturday Sun gathered that governors from APC-controlled states and some na­tional leaders of the party had submitted no less than 73 names for the president to select his ministers from. This is despite the president’s initial warning before his swearing-in in May that he would not al­low state governors to nominate ministers for him.

Of the 23 states controlled by the APC, only Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was said to have submitted only one name, a former governor of the state (names withheld) while the rest sub­mitted either two or three names to the president to chose one from for appoint­ment as ministers representing their states in the Federal Executive Council.

A reliable source in the presidency told Saturday Sun: “The ministerial list will soon be out as promised by the President but it is full of surprises because many min­isterial hopefuls and those who nominated them will be shocked. This is because the President won’t be bound by the old tradi­tion.”

The old tradition, it was gathered, means the practice in the past where state gov­ernors and party leaders would nominate three names from their states, out of which the President would pick one as minister representing the state in FEC.

From May 1999 to May 2015, it has been the tradition of the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government to appoint a minimum of one minister from each of the 36 states of the federation and six others from the geopo­litical zones into the Federal Executive Council.

The APC governors had in a meeting with the then president-elect before their swearing-in on May 29 pleaded with Bu­hari to give them the privilege of nominat­ing ministers from their respective states as it’s always been done. Though the presi­dent did not approve the proposal, Saturday Sun gathered that the governors went ahead to submit names and CVs of their nominees weeks later.

-Sun News