As Nigerians ruminate on the activities of the administration of President Bola Tinubu, KUNLE ODEREMI reports on how some of those activities touched on the polity.
THE first 100 days of President Bola Tinubu in office is a mixture of suspense and hope for the citizenry. It elicits mixed feelings among the people, due to the impact of his policies and body language. Just as most of his policies have left ripple effects in the economic spectrum, they have also created dizzying effects on the political environment. From the choice of members of his cabinet to his intervention in some development within his party, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as well as rumbling in the three opposition parties that gave him a run for his money in the February 25 general election, the president remains the issue in the last 100 days.
Ministerial appointments
Under the last amendments to the 1999 Constitution, president and governors are to announce the list of ministers or commissioner-nominees within 60 days of their taking of oath of office. Tinubu had promised to commence work immediately he assumed office. Therefore the delay by the president in unveiling the list of his prospective ministers became a serious issue, with individuals and groups taking on him on the matter. It would be recalled that immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari did not form his cabinet until six months after he became president.
Tinubu was also criticised for including some political leaders, including former governors and ministers, who had been regular faces in the corridors of power in the list of his ministerial nominees. In spite of protests by stakeholders in the South-East over perceived imbalance among the six zones over the slots, the list subsisted for screening. Members of the South-East caucus in the National Assembly and the pan-Igbo organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo decried what they regarded as a sustained lack of justice, fairness and equity against the Igbo in the scheme of things at the centre.
The substitution of the names of a couple of ministerial nominees elicited criticism. Critics said it was an evidence of improper planning by the authorities as issues that surrounded the replacement of those names should have been sorted out before the list was unveiled. President Tinubu had replaced Maryam Shetty, choosing two others, Festus Keyamo and Dr Mariya Mahmoud. Shetty’s name was withdrawn from the supplementary list of ministerial nominees. Tinubu transmitted the list to the National Assembly a day before the expiration of the 60-day constitutional deadline of July 28.
Section 147 (3) of the 1999 Constitution mandates the President to appoint at least one minister from each of the 36 states. The Fifth Amendment to the 1999 Constitution mandates the President to transmit the names of his ministerial nominees to the National Assembly within 60 days of assumption of office.
The Senate confirmed 45 out of 48 ministerial nominees forwarded to it by President Tinubu, while stepping down the nomination of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai; former Deputy Governor of Taraba State, Sani Abubakar Danladi and the former Executive Director, Business Development at the Nigeria Import and Export Bank, Stella Okotete from Delta State.
The President had on July 27, through his Chief of Staff and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, forwarded the first batch of 28 nominees for approval by the Senate, while the second and last batch of 19 was sent through the same aide on August 2.
Tinubu, Kwankwaso talks
Tinubu and the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Dr Musa Kwankwaso held a series of meetings ostensibly bordering on cooperation and collaboration as the the president prepared to set up his cabinet. The NNPP candidate did not file petition against the declaration of Tinubu of the APC as the winner of the election. The meetings caused serious disaffection in the NNPP and the APC, with members of the opposition party accusing their candidate of compromising leading to NNPP defeat. Conversely, APC elements frowned at the romance between Tinubu and Kwankwaso with the party members warning against sacrificing their interest in order to accommodate Kwankwaso in an APC administration. The talks between the two leaders eventually hit the brick wall as Tinubu left out NNPP in the list of ministerial nominees forwarded to the Senate for screening and confirmation. The fiasco further pushed NNPP down the valley of controversy, schism and suspicion as the emergent factions came out smoking and digging in, in the bid to gain legitimacy among the rest of the party members, followers and sympathizers. This led to a spate of claims and counter-claims of anti party activities, suspensions and expulsions of members and their leaders.
While the LP and its presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi denied the report of tripartite talks, both Atiku and Kwankwaso have been exchanging visits, for political reasons. Nonetheless, NNPP has neither denied nor confirmed the purported plan by them to team up and form a platform, even with a declaration by APC national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje that his party could soon subsume other parties.
Parties in endemic crises
All the major parties are enmeshed in endemic crises. There is frustration and anger among many APC caucuses because of the belief that they seem to been used and abandoned again after the general election. They accused some leaders of the party of keeping quiet because the authorities are seen to be taking care of their interest at the expense of the majority of party faithful that worked to ensure APC success at the poll. On the other hand, the decision of the APC administration to reciprocate the kind gesture of some influential members of the opposition, especially PDP with appointments, is stoking the fire. But PDP seems to be in a quagmire over calls that the immediate past governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike be sanctioned for working against his party, PDP, at the elections. Similarly, the NNPP is caught between the moon and the deep blue sea due to a simmering feud. The conflict is threatening the future of the party because of the division in its fold after the rival camps engaged in a wave of expulsion of the leading lights over alleged anti-party activities. The two camps in the Labour Party (LP) are adamant in the battle for the control of the structure of the party whose presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi challenged the victory of Tinubu at the poll. Both the Julius Abure-led camp and that of Lamidi Apapa are involved many cases to unravel the leadership riddle in the LP.
Presidential candidates beg for appointment
Six months after the elections, the candidates of fringe parties are cringing before APC-led federal administration to be accommodated with appointments for their members. With the president constituting his cabinet without giving a single slot to the lesser parties, they see a window of opportunity in APC national chairman, Dr Ganduje to assist them so that they can benefit from the pecks of office. Acting under the aegis of the Forum of Concerned Presidential Candidates, they include the candidate of Action Peoples Party (APP), Charles Nnadi; his counterpart in National Rescue Movement (NRM), Felix Osakwe; All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Professor Peter Umeadi, Action Democratic Party (ADP) vice-presidential candidate, Dr Odey Udo and the leader of the team, Adewale Adeogun.
Speaking on behalf of others, Osakwe said: “We chose not to go to court because this is Nigeria. We are here to thank you and God. The former presidential candidates are willing to offer their services to this country. We have a demand and it is for the party; that a slot in the campaign council for the governorship elections should be made available to us…We believed that our job is much more wanted now as we prepare to go into the polls in the three states in November. I am to submit two names to the chairman.” Ganduje accepted to convey their demand to President Tinubu.
Those presidential candidates seeking patronage from APC appear to be acting like typical politicians based on the words of a famous American novelist and editor, Edgar Watson Howe: “If you have sense enough to realise why flies gather around in a restaurant, you should be able to appreciate why men run for office.”
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