On the dot of the constitutionally guaranteed deadline of 60 days, President Bola Tinubu forwarded a list of 28 would-be ministers to the Senate for screening and possible confirmation. General Editor, TAIWO ADISA, takes a look at the list of 28, submitting that the much-awaited list comprises largely names of everyday politicians and a handful of technocrats. Should Nigerian hail or yell? The answer, he concludes, lies in the belly of time.
Early in March 2023, shortly after he was declared the winner of the hotly contested presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Bola Ahmed Tinubu restated what he had mouthed all along on the campaign trail, that he would hit the ground running from day one.
While hosting members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who paid him a visit at his residence in Abuja, Tinubu said he was set to run a people’s government. He said: “It is going to be a fair government guided by the rule of law, justice and fairness. It is going to be hard work from day one and we are going to join hands in building a government of the people and by the people…
“We drew a strong commitment with Nigerians. From the primary we were transparent. We were committed to our ideals. We promised Nigerians that if we win, we will work for all Nigerians.”
Not a few hailed the president when he promptly sent a communication to the 9th Senate seeking approval on the number of Special Advisers his government planned to appoint. Many also felt that the alacrity he applied to end the fuel subsidy saga when he said “fuel subsidy is gone” would not just cease and that the list of would-be ministers would find its way into the Senate chamber in no time.
That was largely expected, especially going by the fact that though the winner of the election had emerged on March 1, 2023, the president would not take office until May 29, some two clear months after the electioneering hustle and bustle.
With days growing into weeks, the waiting was becoming dreary and the energy that propelled the soul of even the most enthusiastic party faithful was giving way.
As the waiting got prolonged, public affairs commentators, party leaders, and all started weighing in. Party leaders kept reassuring Nigerians that the president would fish out very high professionals and technocrats to man the ministries. There was a talk that the president’s scouts were at the time combing the world capitals in search of top Nigerian technocrats who could help salvage the nation’s economy, the health sector, and others.
With less than two weeks to the 60-day window provided for in Section 147(7) of the 1999 Constitution as amended and the fact that the National Assembly was due to embark on its annual recess in the last week of July, the heat was turned on the presidency to produce the ministerial list for Senate screening.
Section 147(7) reads: “Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (2) of this section and Section (42) of this Constitution– the nomination of any person to the office of a Minister for confirmation by the Senate shall be done within sixty days after the date the President has taken the oath of office.”
The above section, with the 60 days terminating on July 28 and the annual recess of the Senate originally fixed for July 27 would have imposed more burdens on the nation and the lawmakers. A failure to keep the July 27 date would mean that the would-be Ministers may not be unveiled until the first week of October when the lawmakers would resume proceedings. That would have amounted to a repeat of what the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari did in 2015, which made the ministers resume office in November of the year, something analysts claimed laid the foundation for the total collapse of the economy as witnessed under his watch.
Drama on D-Day
The drama actually started on Tuesday, July 25. Senate leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, had announced that the list of ministerial nominees would be in the chamber in the next 48 hours. That was an unusual announcement from the Red chamber since it is the prerogative of the president to forward the list of his nominees for consideration. But the Senate leader was apparently responding to the barrage of pressure from the media and members of the public, with unconfirmed social media claims indicating that the Senate was holding back the much-awaited announcement. On D-Day, the Senate had kick-started its sitting and after the adoption of the votes and proceedings of the previous sitting, at the point when the Senate president was supposed to make announcements as to whether there were executive communications or not, the Senate leader again seized the floor and moved a motion for executive session. Executive sessions, as opposed to closed sessions, are held to consider matters that have to do with the executive arm of the government. So it was clear to the chamber and the gallery that the Senate was going to discuss matters related to the expected ministerial list behind closed doors.
When the doors of the chambers were opened after about an hour, again, the Senate leader moved a cluster of motions, something assembly watchers would tag unusual rigmarole. His request at the end of the day was that the Senate allows a “stranger” in the person of a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, now Chief of Staff to the President, to the chamber to deliver a message from Mr. President. And as soon as the motion was carried, the Senate president beckoned on the Sergeant-at-Arms to usher in the Chief of Staff to the President. Pronto, Gbajabiamila brought out a sealed envelope and handed same to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who wasted no time in unveiling the content of the letter. There were 28 names of would-be ministers, and most of them are names that have been flying around in the last month. There were four former governors, politicians, and a handful of technocrats, whose names did not catch anyone by surprise.
The list represents nominees from 25 states, with some having two nominees. 11 other states are on the waiting list. The remaining states are Lagos, Osun, Kano, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Kogi, Plateau, Yobe, Zamfara, Gombe, and Kebbi.
The names of the already submitted ministerial nominees and their states of origin include Abubakar Momoh, Edo State; Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, Bauchi; Ahmed Dangiwa, Katsina; Hannatu Musawa-Katsina; Chief Uche Nnaji, Enugu; Dr. Berta Edu, Cross Rivers; Dr. Dorris Aniche Uzoka, Imo; Senator David Umahi, Ebonyi; Nyesom Wike, Rivers State; Alhaji Badaru Abubakar, Jigawa; Mallam Nasiru Ahmed Elrufai, Kaduna; Rt. Hon. Ekperipe Ekpo, Akwa Ibom; Hon. Nkiru Onyeojiocha, Abia; Hon. Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, Ondo and Hon. Stella Okotette, Delta.
Others are: Hon. Uju Kennedy Ohaneye, Anambra; Mr. Bello Muhammad Goronyo, Sokoto; Mr. Dele Alake, Ekiti; Mr. Lateef Fagbemi SAN, Kwara; Mr. Muhammad Idris, Niger; Mr. Olawale Edun, Ogun; Mr. Waheed Adebayo Adelabu, Oyo; Mrs. Iman Suleiman Ibrahim, Nasarawa; Professor Ali Pate, Bauchi; Professor Joseph Utsev, Benue; Senator Abubakar Kyari, Borno; Senator John Eno, Cross Rivers; Senator Sani Abubakar Danladi, Taraba.
The last of 28 can easily be classified into a list of technocrats, politicians, and the ‘bow and go’ class. With four ex-governors, 10 former or serving senators and members of the House of Representatives, notable leaders of the party, and well-known faces around the president on the list of 28, it is doubtful if the Senate would have a hectic time screening and confirming the nominees. The Red Chamber had already established an unwritten esprit de corps rule, which allows former lawmakers either of the red or green chamber to take a bow during screenings. The same unwritten rule is usually extended to ambassadors and former ministers who are not seen to have acquired any new adverse records in the aftermath of their last appearance before the Senate.
If that persists, the Senate could just have an easy ride going through the screening of the list of 28. Besides those who could enjoy espirit de corps, there are also well-known political godfathers in the names of former governors and party chiefs. A number of the sitting senators are beholden to those in this class for one favour or the other during the electioneering process. That would also make the call for “bow and go” louder than expected.
The ‘Bow and Go’ Class
Following the established tradition of the Senate, nominees with legislative experience are usually extended the courtesy of taking a bow and leaving the Senate after they had introduced themselves. The exceptions are when the Senate needs to clarify something from the nominee or when the lawmakers feel they should allow the nation to benefit from the wealth of experience of the nominee by allowing him to contribute to a pressing issue of national importance.
Those that may benefit from the ‘bow and go’ tradition from the screening that starts on Monday (tomorrow) include Senators (serving or former) and members of the House of Representatives, either serving or retired. Such nominees include Momoh, a two-time member of the House of Representatives from Edo State; Enoh, a former member of the House of Representatives and the Senate; Umahi, a former governor of Ebonyi State and serving senator; Kyari, the acting National Chairman of the ruling APC, who had to step in following the resignation of Senator Abdullahi Adamu. Others include Ekpo, Akwa Ibom; Onyeojiocha, Abia; Ojo, Ondo; Stella Okotette, Delta; Ohaneye, Anambra. Unless the media reports indicating some allegations against the nominee from Taraba State, Senator Sani Abubakar Danladi get some weight, he may also enjoy the courtesy of taking a ‘bow and go.’
Technocrats
There are arguments and counter arguments as to who really is to be classified as a technocrat when appointments into public offices are concerned. Politicians would claim that everyone was first of all a technocrat in one field before joining politics, while those in the public sphere would want to claim that personalities who have practised partisan politics for years should not be strictly seen as technocrats. Whatever it is, the like of Prof Pate; Alake; Edun; Edu; Fagbemi, SAN; Idris (Niger) and Professor Utsev from Benue State, would stand out as technocrats on the list. Professor Pate was Minister of State for Health under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan. He was also the CEO of GAVI and professor of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University, while . Mohammed Idris, who represents Niger State on the list, is a well-known publisher of Blueprint a newspaper based in Abuja as well as an entrepreneur of note.
The Core Politicians
While it is not debatable that every human being is a political animal, the fact that some romance politics more intimately than others make for segregation. Those who have risen the ladder of political offices can as well not separate themselves from this class of partisan politicians, notwithstanding their professional backgrounds and calling before they launched into full-time politics. Because of their influence and standing in the political parties, this class of nominees could also enjoy some form of soft landing during the screening in the Senate. For instance, a number of the senators in the chamber would hold their political life to some of these political leaders and governors, while some could be protégés of sitting senators, who would want their beloved candidates to enjoy the soft landing.
Some of the nominees in this category may include the four former governors; Umahi; Wike; Badaru and el-Rufai, as well as APC, acting national chairman, Kyari.
But what is new about the old politicians? Having held sway for many years while the country continue to drift hopelessly to ruination, what other magic do they possess this time to change the country’s situation?
Nasiru El-Rufai
He served as the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration and he later emerged as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory when he became a household name for good and bad in the territory. Many still credit him for lots of developments in the Capital Territory to date. He was insistent on returning the master plan of the City and demolished some structures said to be standing on sewage lines or green areas. He also laid the foundation for the series of parks and neighbourhood centres dotted across the city of Abuja as we speak. As a two-term governor of Kaduna State, however, the jury is out there that the el-Rufai story turned out a mixed grill. He was reputed to have enhanced the economic standing of the state but the rise of insurgency, killings, and banditry appeared to have dwarfed whatever economic growth he might have influenced. His reign was said to have bread untoward insurgency in the state to the extent that the Abuja-Kaduna road is today a den of kidnappers and a no-go area for commuters.
Nyesom Wike
As governor of Rivers State earned the sobriquet, Mr. Projects in his eight-year tenure as governor in the state. He was also a local government chairman of his native Obio-Akpor local government and Chief of Staff to former Governor Rotimi Amaechi. Wike was said to have done well as governor, especially with infrastructure projects but his nomination is already dogged by political misgivings from his original political party, the Peoples Democratic Party, whose leaders felt short-changed by Wike’s support for President Tinubu of the APC and divisive tendencies during the electioneering. Many have said that the seed of discord planted in the PDP by Wike’s leadership of the G5 group of governors will continue to haunt the party in several elections to come. Not a few see his insistence on taking a ministerial slot as a political gimmick and something that has little or nothing to do with the need to serve the nation. He was Minister of State under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan when he was said to have discharged himself as Minister of State in charge of Education. During that time, he supervised the building of 400 Almajiri schools and other projects. His coming this time is according to political watchers to first stabilise his G5 and its hold on the PDP and also consolidate his hold on the politics of Rivers State, where his political rival, Rotimi Amaechi is lurking in the wings.
David Umahi
He equally earned some passing marks on infrastructural projects as governor of Ebonyi State where he served as two-term governor. He was said to have engineered a number of infrastructural projects. The fact that he has been associated with governance since the restart of the Fourth Republic may, however, cast a slur as to what new thing he is got to offer as minister. Not a few would also want to indict him for perpetually seeking to control the levers of power. First, he contested for the presidency and lost out, and then he ran back to grab the Senatorial seat for Ebonyi South. Upon a hard-fought contest that was settled by the court, he again launched into the contest for Senate presidency, when although the ranking rule of the chamber did not favour him. At the end of the inauguration proceedings in the Senate, he worked the leadership of the party to name him the Deputy Senate Leader, a position that was strangely allotted to a non-ranking Senator, especially where there are far more ranking lawmakers in the chamber. If the man is all about power mongering, as shown in recent times, what can he then offer as Minister? Not a few would ask.
Alhaji Badaru Abubakar, Jigawa State
The immediate past governor of Jigawa State had featured as a strong supporter of President Tinubu since the campaign days. It is not surprising that his name popped up on the ministerial list but that has however gone to emphasise that the list put together by the president is more or less a list aimed at satisfying political interests and one that is largely peopled by politicians whose focus would be on the next election, rather than the next policy.
Dr Beta Edu, Cross Rivers State
This nominee cuts across divides. She is a medical doctor and a youth, so to say. At 36, she is the Woman Leader of the APC, a top political office at that. She had also served as Commissioner for Health in Cross Rivers state where she was said to have fought the scourge of the Covid-19 pandemic to a standstill. It remains to be seen what expertise she would bring into office as a Minister or whether her women’s mobilisation initiatives would take the better of her.
By and large, the list of 28 ministerial nominees released by the president for Senate screening on Thursday appears more like the same old drivers that drove the ship of state into a large hole save for pockets of a handful of technocrats who can be said to have earned their names outside of political offices. Whether the remaining list of 12 or 14 that would represent 11 states would bring on board some notable performers, is yet to be seen.
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