Dismay over new ministers casts doubts on second term promises

By SESAN LAOYE AND YUSUF MOHAMMED

Palpable dismay and disappointment has greeted the release of the names of cabinet ministers that are expected to help drive the second term governance template of President Muhammadu Buhari with many voicing their fears that the choices made by the president ostensibly cast doubts on the administration’s ability to deliver on its second term promises.

This is even as intrigues and controversies continue to trail the footsteps of a sizeable number of the nominees who emerged out of a process that many analysts say had clearly elevated politics over governance.

And compounding the challenge is the manner in which the National Assembly has handled the ministerial screening process. Apparently in a determined bid to bend over backwards to assist the executive, two-thirds of the ministerial nominees that showed up to be screened in the first two days of the process were simply waved on: They took ‘a bow’ and went!

Equally disquieting was the fact that no portfolios were attached to the names of the minister-designates and so the senators could not exactly match nominees with anticipated job expectations.

Accentuating public angst is the fact that it had taken two months of waiting on President Muhammadu Buhari to get the list out. While this is an improvement on the five months that Buhari had used to compile his previous list in 2015, the fact of his being an immediately returning President and the additional note that he had indeed been declared re-elected three months before being inaugurated on May 29, 2019 means that even beyond the campaign period, the President has also used up the better part of five months to make his choices.

And at the end of the day of the 43 nominees, 14 were ministers in the first term even as several former governors and other long-standing establishment politicians took up the bulk of the other slots

Winners and losers

One of the biggest winners in the process is Festus Keyamo (SAN). Given the caliber of persons reportedly in contention from his home Delta State, not many thought he would make the ministerial list. With the likes of Great Ovedje Ogboru and immediate past Minister of State, Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu in contention, his being picked was clearly a tall order. But he had been appointed as the spokesperson for Buhari’s re-election campaign in 2018 and with his voice being one of the loudest and most vitriolic in favour of Buhari’s re-election, this, analysts say was to be the singularly most critical factor in his emergence.

‘You know that we are still in very tough political times. The truth is that the 2019 elections have not been fully won yet. Both at the tribunal and in the courts of public opinion there are still many mine-fields. Besides, it was also inevitable that the 2023 race was going to be incorporated into this process. These are the issues the administration is confronting and that is why its chief drivers have presently voted to put in place a cabinet that can fight,’ a veteran analyst who would not be named told Business Hallmark at the weekend.

And when you talk of fighters, Keyamo had indeed ruffled many feathers during the presidential campaigns with his style of support. He left no stone unturned in defending Buhari. He could be found on social and traditional media either defending Buhari or attacking those who opposed him. His combative style during the elections has finally earned him a seat in Buhari’s cabinet.

Besides this factor, sources say that Keyamo had the nod eventually because the final vetting authorities concluded that they could manage him better than his two closest rivals, Ogboru and Kachikwu. While Ogboru was seen as ‘too strong’ and too organically pro-Niger Delta, Kachikwu’s brush with former NNPC GMD, Maikanti Baru and which had almost led to his sack then, had literally sealed his fate.

2023 political considerations were seemingly top-heavy in the choice of nominees from Lagos State. After seemingly avoiding an open confrontation with APC National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the tussle for the House of Representatives Speaker slot, the principal power-mongers in the Buhari presidency would not give any space here. Yes, they did not have one of their first-choice nominees, former Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode making the list but they still had Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN who was Minister of Works, Power and Housing between 2015 and 2019 making the list once again. Clearly, one of the few South-Westerners that the president has come to know and is clearly quite fond of, this time around, the jury is out as to whether he may still get to head three ‘juicy’ ministries.

The second Lagos nominee, Olorunnimbe Mamora is another name that though APC stalwarts are generally happy about, was also locked up in the 2023 politicking permutations. In 2007, he had been elected Senator for the Lagos East constituency of Lagos State, Nigeria under the defunct Action Congress (AC). This was after having served in the Lagos State House of Assembly as member and Speaker. He was more recently; one of the coordinators of Buhari’s campaign in the South West in 2015 and many had expected that he would have been rewarded with a ministerial appointment even back then. But the owners of Lagos reportedly objected and he was dropped. A loyal party member, many believe that he deserves the appointment, and after four years of being locked out of the Federal Executive Council, it appears that even his traducers back then would find very little intra-party and public ‘hiding space’ should they revive their objections once again.

Dutifully, the incumbent Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwoolu and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa has congratulated the two ministerial nominees. They said that they have no doubts that both of them would do the nation proud just as former governor Fashola did in his first time out with President Buhari.

Sunday Dare’s nomination in Oyo State over and above the likes of former Governor Abiola Ajimobi is also being seen by pundits as part of the smart politics of the 2023 strategists. Though one who has had a long history of political association with Tinubu, a source confided in Business Hallmark that his principal sponsor for the position this time around was indeed a North West Governor with whom he had also being similarly associated and who is also in contention for 2023.

Dare was until his nomination the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management at the Nigerian Communications Commission and Convener of Social Media Clinic, a media communications technology platform which is committed to educating private citizens on IT development and use of Telecoms as an Information tool.

He was previously Chief of Staff and Special Adviser, Media to Tinubu. He had for many years been involved with health coverage in the media with his online health resources column in Daily Trust which provided critical data on diverse health issues. He was also at the Voice of America, Hausa service as well as The News and Tempo magazines where he served as General Editor and Editor respectively.

Hailing from Ogbomosho, his appointment came as a surprise to the people of Oyo state because he was least expected. However, the Oyo APC reformers said that they were happy that the slot was not given to former Governor Ajimobi or any of his cronies.

Hon. Lawrence Adewole and Engineer Dipo Fawole said God prospers the man with innovations and that Dare’s ministerial appointment would be a blessing for the state

Dare was also to literally steal the show during his screening as the senators from Oyo state applauded him as a noble representative of the state. They also believed that he would do the state proud.

Senator Teslim Folarin who was highly delighted about Dare’s appointment said he was sure he would go places as an innovative communications expert. Equally, the youth wing if the APC and the Ogbomosho youth forum have congratulated Dare, saying that with his experience as an IT expert, he would be a better replacement for Adebayo Shittu and that the ministerial position would help prepare him for future tasks ahead, especially the governorship of Oyo State.

As for Otunba Richard Adeniyi Adebayo, from Ekiti state, he has clearly been around. Son of the first military Governor of the Western Region, he was the first executive governor of Ekiti state, had been chairman of several boards and Deputy National Chairman of the All progressives Congress (APC) South. He is one of the strong allies of Tinubu, coming back from when they served together as Alliance for Democracy governors from 1998 to 2003. Highly respected and not known to be openly controversial, some people in the state however say that he should have given the slot to a much younger politician.

One of the strong members of ADC in Ekiti, Mr Adeniji Oguntade is one such critic. He says that with the political clout of the former governor, he should have nominated someone much younger for the role and remained a leader at the background as he used to do in the past, when he was seen as father figure in the politics of Ekiti and the South West.

However, the governor of the state, Dr Kayode Fayemi has congratulated him and expressed his belief that he would use his wealth of experience to help the President move the county forward.

Also, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele says that the country needs people like Otunba Adebayo at this moment of the nation’s political history. He therefore opines that he has no doubt that his brother and former governor with whom he also shares even closer affinity given that they both hail from the same town of Iyin Ekiti would do well in the Buhari second term cabinet.

Architect Olamilekan Adegbite from Ogun was a former commissioner under Governor Ibikunle Amosun. His nomination has further deepened the crisis between the two factions of the APC in the state, namely the Amosun and the Osoba factions

The APC caretaker executive led by Chief Yemi Sanusi indicated that Adegbite was not the party’s candidate and choice, while the people of Yewa too felt that they should have been given the slot since they lost the governorship again to another zone.

Feelers from Ogun indicated that President Buhari used the ministerial appointment to compensate Amosun whose candidate lost the governorship to the Osoba’s camp so that he would not feel totally humiliated politically in Ogun State.

In his own reaction, a former senatorial aspirant and strong politician in Yewa Ogun West said that they deserve the ministerial slot. He said though the president reserves the right to pick who he wants but sometimes it is good to use geographical spread for appointments because the Yewa people have always been marginalised in the scheme of things in Ogun State.

As for Senator Tayo Alasoadura, he represented Ondo Central in the Senate and is said to be the nominee of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu. His nomination is already causing another controversy between the Governor and the other faction of the APC which has been calling for the head of the governor.

But the governor has congratulated Alasoadura, saying that the state was proud of him.

He too has thanked President Buhari for appointing him and called on the people of the state to rally round him, so that he would be able, with their support, to utilise his wealth of experience to work for the good of the country and help improve on the economy

Politics all the way

Beyond the 2023 contests, the need for strong fighters that would help the party continue to navigate the highly charged political minefields, while at the same time correspondingly settling political IOUs was also strong in the calculations.

This clearly appears to be the case for Rotimi Amaechi, who was the Director-General of the president’s Campaign Council. His hard-core support for Buhari in 2015 and 2019 cannot be ignored. Amaechi reportedly invested very heavily in Buhari’s campaign in 2015 and has continued to be the principal point man for the president and his allies in the very tempestuous Rivers political terrain. Reappointing him as a minister therefore did not come as a surprise to anyone.

On his part, Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom and a former senator is another person that took a very big risk for Buhari and many believed that the president would reward him for his efforts during the election. Prior to the elections, he dumped the PDP for the APC which cost him his re-election to the Senate. He was appointed as South South zonal director for Buhari’s campaign.

It is evident from Akpabio’s inclusion that the ministerial list is evidently linked to a compensation scheme for those who lose their elections even when they have at the same time battled hard for Buhari to get his own mandate.

In a similar vein, former Benue governor, George Akume and Senator Tayo Alasoadura, who both lost re-election bids to return to the Senate in the February 23 elections, also made Buhari’s list.

Uchechukwu Ogah who lost the Abia State governorship election, was also included. But his inclusion is being very roundly criticized in ‘cyberia.’

Rauf Aregbesola, former governor of Osun State is another nominee that is attracting a lot of flak. Apart from the fact that he is Tinubu’s man and alternate Chair of the Governor’s Advisory Council in Lagos State, a reliable source also volunteered to Business Hallmark that President Buhari is equally very fond of him. Besides also, his loyalty to the APC is not in doubt. In the 2015 and 2019 general elections, he made sure that Buhari defeated his rivals in Osun.

Aregbesola who had come to the political limelight when he worked with Tinubu as Commissioner for Works during the eight year tenure of Tinubu as governor of Lagos state, later governed Osun State for eight years where his tenure was enmeshed in several controversies.

It was said that he did not deserve the appointment based on the fact of his alleged mishandling of Osun State which it was said led to the state being almost literally grounded. The opposition believes that his appointment as minister amounts to an aberration with the way he ran Osun to a net debtor state status and that even in his tenure as a minister he could not be guaranteed to change his ways.

The chairman of the PDP in Osun State, Soji Adagunodo says: “Aregbesola is an aberration with the way he ruled Osun State, plunging it into serious debt based on his wasteful spending, along with the seeming rascality of his carriage and his behavior as a dictator.”

He went on to aver that “people with such temperament are not needed at the federal level where it would be dangerous to implement projects and policies that affects over 200 million people with the same irrational mien with which he had operated in Osun.”

Adagunodo argued that the people of Osun would not forget Aregbesola in a hurry being that he was the first governor to introduce the aberrant notion of half-salaries to workers.

However, Governor Gboyega Oyetola through his press secretary Niyi Adesina congratulated Aregbesola, saying that they were happy for his appointment

But a member of the APC confided in Business Hallmark that indeed Governor Oyetola has every reason to be happy because the ministerial job would not give Aregbesola ample time and space to continue to delve into the affairs of his government as a godfather.

For the PDP, they aver that rather than appointing Aregbesola, the former minister of health, Professor Isaac Adewole could have been retained. However, in the larger political span that undergirded the nominations, Adewole’s ‘links’ with former governor of the state, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and former President Olusegun Obasanjo who has been very critical of the present federal government of President Buhari came up for negative reckoning.

Also unhelpful is the fact that Adewole had also become infamous for saying “all doctors cannot become specialists” and that some “should try their hands at other thing like farming.” Surely he would not be heavily missed, especially by the rest of the Nigerian medical doctors’ corps that are yet to emigrate.

Lai Mohammed

The irrepressible former minister of Information has been appointed once again. An original loyalist of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he has since come to become one of Buhari’s hard-line defenders. His nomination is seen as not surprising at all given his strong link with the party kingpins as well as the role he played in ensuring that former Senate President, Bukola Saraki lost grip of Kwara State.

Mohammed was one of those who spare headed the “Oto Ge” movement in Kwara.

As for former Education Minister, Adamu Adamu, his being reappointed despite the fact that many in the education sector do not believe that he performed well in his first term is said to be traceable in part to Adamu’s political godfather, Mamman Daura who happens to be Buhari’s uncle.

Other returnee ministers, whose return are equally linked to open and veiled political permutations include Ogbonnaya Onu, Geoffery Onyeama, Hadi Sirika, Abubakar Malami, Osagie Enahire, Suleiman Adamu and Mohamed Bello.

Losers

Solomon Dalung

During an interview two weeks after he left office, Dalung said “nobody born of a woman” could stop his re-appointment, unless it was God’s wish.

Dalung was left out of the ministerial list. On all social media platforms, the former minister of sports has become the butt of cruel jokes for not making the list.

Salamatu Baiwa
Business Hallmark gathered that the National Women Leader of the APC, Salamatu Baiwa lobbied to be on the list but failed. She is an ally of the First Lady, Aisha Buhari. In fact it was through the support of Aisha that she had become the women leader of the APC. Ironically, the woman she defeated for that position, Mrs. Rammattu Tijanni was nominated as minister. Baiwa and Tijanni are both from Kogi State. She defeated Tijanni for the women leader position two years ago. Both of them lobbied to be minister but Tijanni got the upper hand this time around because as one source revealed, she was helped by a very influential member of the ‘cabal.’

Abike Dabiri

Special Adviser to Buhari on foreign affairs, Mrs. Abike Dabiri failed to make the ministerial list. It was gathered that she was lobbying to replace Geoffrey Onyeama who was the minister of foreign affairs.

Adebayo Shittu

Former Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu failed to get reappointment. The nail on his coffin was when he was disqualified by the APC when he wanted to run for governor in Oyo State. Shittu was disqualified over his NYSC certificate scandal. Though he and the Presidency defied very loud calls for him to resign after his ‘NYSC status’ became public, however, appointing him again as minister was a difficult sell from that point onward.

Akinwunmi Ambode

Most political analysts expected Ambode to be on the list. He followed the president to almost all of his campaign rallies across the country; and though he hardly addressed the crowds, he was always there for the president like a man on a mission.

Ambode fell out with the leadership of the APC in Lagos and many saw his closeness with Buhari at the tail end of his administration as a sign that he would be compensated with a ministerial position. Two people from Lagos got appointments and Ambode was not one of them. Fashola another former governor and Senator Mamora were nominated as ministers.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity a chieftain of the APC in Lagos told Business Hallmark that “The president did not nominate Ambode in open respect of Tinubu. As it is, Tinubu is the biggest figure from the South West behind Buhari. Due to this Ruga wahala, Buhari has lost the support of many Yoruba elites. Leaving Ambode out therefore is in part an accommodation of sorts for Tinubu’s continuous support and feelings, especially in the face of growing opposition in the West.”

On the surface of things, Abdurrahman Dambazau and Mansur Dan Ali’s omission are perhaps the most shocking of all. And this is not because they performed well, but because of Buhari’s antecedent of rewarding loyalty. Dambazau and Dan Ali who were Minister of Interior and Minister of Defence respectively were part of those the president trusted. Their cluelessness about the security challenges of the country seemed to have over-shadowed their closeness to the president’s cabinet kitchen. However, observers say that this may not be the entire story and indicate that they may have presently been rested to give room for even more virulent fighters like Magashi to come in.

Women

Speaking of his own domestic relations, Buhari once said, “My wife belongs to the kitchen, the living room and the other room.” That statement did not go down well with many women who felt that he was endorsing the alienation of women in the political space.

While campaigning for a second term, Buhari promised that he was going to run a more inclusive government with a focus on women and youths.

This new list is clearly not in consonance with that campaign promise as only seven women made the list of 43. In his first term cabinet there were only six women out of 37.

This means that while six women in 2015 represented 19% of the total, seven in 2019 represents only 16%. It is definitely a setback.

Some women who advocate for women in politics described this development as new height of misrepresentation of women when compared with the population of women in Nigeria which is 49.4 per cent.

“Women have once again been marginalized,” said Mercy Ayodele, a former governorship candidate in Osun State.

“The highest numbers of people that vote are women. But when it comes to sharing positions, we take the back seat. We had suggested a minimum of 15 women in that list,” she said.

Ndi Kato, a 28-year-old female politician said: “We have an abundance of qualified women and we have been advocating throughout the process of selecting ministers. The disrespect involved in just tossing off women’s requests like it doesn’t matter is traumatic.”

As for the youth, they may very well now embark on a ‘Not-too-young-to-serve’ campaign. They did not get even a token slot.

The people, the losers

President Buhari has promised that he would lead the process towards ensuring that the nation would create 100million jobs in the next ten years. He has also repeatedly insisted that not only would he vigorously address and defeat every vestige of insecurity rearing its head in Nigeria, he would leave the nation a safer place than he had met it. Similarly, he has been quoted over and over as being one that is most determined to cut back on the nation’s corruption challenge.

But it takes more than saying it to achieve it and that is why many are particularly bothered about the quality and capacity of the ‘foot soldiers’ he has presently named would be in the forefront of winning these and other battles that the nation is confronted with.

One person who is very disappointed about the President’s choices is the economist, consultant and politician, Tope Fasua.

Fasua, who had supported Buhari’s emergence in 2015 but had later then gone on to contest the 2019 presidential polls against Buhari says that there is nothing inspiring in the list.

His point is corroborated by Yinka Odumakin, spokesperson for the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere

“It is worse than politicians dominating. You look at some names on the list and you think it is a sheet of charged alleged looters you are holding.”

“With a rubber stamp Senate in place, we should move on to other serious discussions.”

On his part, a former presidential candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mr Obadiah Mailafia is also not pleased with the list of ministerial nominees.

Mailafia who is a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has been vocal in his advocacy for square pegs in square holes. In a telephone chat with Business Hallmark where he was asked to volunteer an opinion on the ministerial nominees, he affirmed that there is indeed simply nothing new about them and went on to describe them as “old wine in old skins.”