Over a month since President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn-in for a second term, the president has been running the country without a cabinet. Huhuonline.com learnt from very authoritative Aso Rock sources that the main factor delaying the ministerial list is the intrigues and internal wrangling rocking the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in the Southwest, which has caused Buhari to prevaricate.
The Southwest zone, it was gathered is where intrigues are most contentious and the intra-party rivalry vicious. Feelers are that Buhari, and indeed the Presidency may have decided to keep the cabinet list secret in order to fence the likes of APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu, from bringing undue pressure to bear on the president.
According to sources, President Buhari is said to favor appointing Wale Edun, former Lagos State Commissioner of Finance (1999-2007), but former Ogun governor, Segun Osoba, and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, have vowed that will only happen over their dead bodies. Osinbajo and Osoba insist that since the former Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun (from Ogun State) resigned after a protracted NYSC certificate scandal; her replacement should come from Ogun state.
Besides opposition from Osinbajo and Osoba, Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun argues that Edun played all his politics in Lagos State and so cannot be foisted to represent Ogun. Huhuonline.com also learnt from APC sources that the push for Edun through Ogun (which failed in 2015), may be a backdoor attempt be backdoor attempt by Tinubu to foreclose the possibility of the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, being named Finance Minister.
Buhari is also facing similar pressure in Ekiti, where Gov. Kayode Fayemi, currently the chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) is backing Otunba Adebayo, a former governor of the state to fill its ministerial slot. Tinubu is said to prefer another former governor, Segun Oni. One of the major causes of friction in Ekiti is the propensity of Fayemi to act independent of Tinubu and be seen to be his own man. It has also been suggested that Fayemi opposes Oni as minister, because the latter may use the office to empower himself for future contests and power play in the politics of 2023.
Also, strong indications have emerged that Buhari may settle for a neutral person and eventually appoint legal luminary and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation )ADF); ignored both Fayemi and Tinubu. Though, efforts to push Falana in 2015 were futile, this time arounf, Buhari is said to be taking a hard second look at Falana, believing he has the capacity to push forward and fine-tune the restructuring agenda, which will be a core area of policy action for the administration in this second term. A reliable Aso Rock source told Huhuonline.com that Buhari has underscored the need for a vibrant lawyer with international reputation to handle the issue.
In Ondo, consideration is being given to the former National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Chief Olusola Oke, but his detractors have tagged him as a political prostitute deeply rooted in the opposition, and addicted to nomadic politics; hence his loyalty to the APC remains questionable. The President is said to be leaning towards one of his loyalists, Ifeoluwa Oyedele, an engineer, who has stuck with him since his Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) days. He was in the Buhari Campaign Council for 2019. In 2015, Buhari nearly appointed Oyedele as minister, but former Osun Governor and then interim APC national chairman, Chief Bisi Akande opposed, arguing that the first cabinet was dominated by CPC members.
In Lagos State, the campaign against Ambode may eventually failed as sources said Buhari has already made up his mind to at least, compensate him for the humiliation he suffered, when he was denied a second term ticket by Tinubu despite the President’s intervention. An APC stalwart authoritatively told Huhuonline.com that it would take a miracle for Buhari not to hand Ambode a portfolio to represent the Southwest, even as the immediate past Minister of Power, Housing and Works, Babatunde Fashola wants to be retained in the new cabinet to represent Lagos State.
Huhuonline.com also learnt Buhari was still contemplating whether to drop former Communications Minster, Adebayo Shittu, whose misunderstanding with the immediate past governor of Oyo, Senator Abiola Ajimobi caused the APC to lose the state in the last presidential and governorship election.
In Osun, a cabal within the APC is canvassing for Senator Iyiola Omisore to be appointed minister for his instrumental role in the party’s victory in the governorship election last year. Buhari is also yet to make up his mind whether to drop Prof. Isaac Adewole, the immediate past Health Minister, who has made no secret of his intention to return to his former office.
The President’s predicament in Osun is further compounded by former Gov. Rauf Aregbesola who is also lobbying hard, with the backing of Tinubu, to get a ministerial appointment. If Omisore carries the day, then the “Abuja cabal” would have succeeded in beating Tinubu in his own game.
Owing to the immense intrigues, pressure and politicking that are ongoing in the 36 states over the ministerial list, pressure from within is also coming from APC national Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole who has publicly stated that only loyal and committed members would be considered for appointments. According to him, “The party did not say this in isolation of the Presidency. This is the most the party can do, in conjunction with the President to ensure that loyal members make the cabinet”.
The Presidency may have acceded to the request by the Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) to only pick ministers with leanings to the APC, informed by the need to avert the 2015 incident where President Buhari picked his cabinet without consulting the party. An APC chieftain, who elected anonymity, said: “Rest assured that the mistake of 2015 where the real party men were sidelined would not happen again. We have learnt our lessons. The party is deeply involved in the selection process. I won’t tell you the criteria we are using but all I know is that virtually all of them would not be strange faces to us. Those who worked for the victory of the party would not suffer in vain this time around.”
However, opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said that the infighting and hostilities in the APC and the Presidency arose from the brazen stealing of the presidential mandate that Nigerians freely gave to the PDP and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the February 23, presidential election. The party in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the vicious struggles “for positions as ‘booty’ of a stolen mandate further exposed the APC and the cabal in Buhari’s Presidency as power mongers, who are only interested in power grabbing, treasury looting and plundering of our national patrimony, and not in the welfare of Nigerians.
“Very recently, Nigerians painfully watched a reality show of the fate that had befallen them in the past four years, as persons close to the President openly declared that a cabal has been running the affairs of our nation. “Nigerians also watched as a faction within the power-grabbing APC, in a loud protest in our nation’s seat of power, Abuja, last week, listed the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, Mr. President’s cousin, Mamman Daura, and his long-standing friend, Isa Funtua as members of the said cabal that has appropriated the Presidency and held President Buhari hostage,” the PDP added.
According to the PDP, “the despicable scenario is a pointer to the disposition of the APC, as a sanctuary of power mongers and looters, as well as accounts for the unpardonable selfish reason that the APC and President Buhari’s handlers rigged the presidential election” It argued that, “the shameful in-fighting is a further confirmation of President Buhari’s incompetence and leadership failure, which is directly responsible for the painful economic and security situation, which our nation has been sunk in the last four years.” The PDP noted that the harsh reality is that, with the situation at hand, there is no hope in sight for Nigeria and Nigerians under the APC and the Buhari Presidency.
