Mixed Feelings In Rivers Over Ministerial List

National Network July 24, 2019

0 4 minutes read

…As PDP Dismisses Nominees As Recycled Failures

Less than 24 hours after the long awaited list of President Buhari’s Ministerial nominees was made public, reactions have continued to trail the constitution and caliber of persons that made the list.

While some are already clicking wine glasses for their political godfathers, friends and political allies having been nominated, some believe the nominees are the least qualified in terms of character, conduct and experience.

In Rivers State, the news of the ministerial nominees was received with mixed feelings especially among the members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

National Network checks revealed that greater number of the APC faithful in the state had preferred Senator Magnus Abe to the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi whose domineering propensity had allegedly cost the APC participation in the 2019 general elections in the state.

The pro-Abe APC members expressed shock that the APC was yet to learn their lesson from that ugly experience which would have been avoided if the party had reasoned with Senator Abe.

According to them “the inclusion of Senator Abe in President Buhari’s cabinet should have been a step forward to redeeming the APC in Rivers State considering his political clout and followership which is no longer a mere rhetoric”.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday announced names of 12 former ministers who worked with him in his first term for reappointment.

They are Babatunde Fashola (Lagos State), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers State) Hadi Sirika (Katsina State), Zainab Ahmed (Kaduna State), Lai Mohammed (Kwara State) Chris Ngige (Anambra State), Adamu Adamu (Bauchi State), Abubakar Malami (Jigawa State), Godfrey Onyeama (Enugu State), Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi State), Osagie Enahire (Edo State), Suleiman Adamu (Jigawa State), and Mohameed Bello (Adamawa State).

Some of the former ministers not reappointed are Okechukwu Enelamah (Abia State), Udoma Udo Udoma (Akwa Ibom State), Heineken Lokpobiri (Bayelsa State), Audu Ogbeh (Benue State) and Usani Uguru (Cross River State).

Others are Ibe Kachikwu (Delta State), Anthony Anwuka (Imo State), Stephen Ochani (Kogi State), Abdulrahaman Dambazau (Kano State), Abubakar Bawa Bwari (Niger State), Cladius Omoleye Daramola (Ondo State) Isaac Adewole (Osun State), Adebayo Shittu (Oyo State), Solomon Dalong (Plateau State), Aisha Abubakar (Sokoto State) and Mansur Dan Ali (Zamfara State).

In its reaction, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, described President Buhari’s ministerial list presented to the Senate Tuesday as colourless, stagnant, uninspiring and do not convey any sense of hope or purposeful governance under the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party said that to the chagrin and utter disappointment of Nigerians, the list is replete with incompetent individuals who failed in their erstwhile ministerial assignments and left their ministries in shambles.

“Indeed, such a ministerial list can only come from a leadership that does not have mandate of the people. It is a complete waste of time and cannot fulfill the expectation of Nigerians”.

The list has further shown President Buhari and APC’s insensitivity and disdain for Nigerians and it does not in any way reflect their hope and eagerness for a better Nigeria.

Furthermore, in recycling failed yesterday’s men for today’s assignment, President Buhari and the APC have left no one in doubt that they have no vision to move our nation out of the economic and security predicaments into which they have plunged us in the last four years.

A committed and responsive leadership would have widely consulted with Nigerians before compiling a ministerial list, given the current situation in the country.

If, indeed, President Buhari and the APC mean well for Nigerians and are interested in revamping our critical sectors, they would not have ended up with a list of those who will help conceal the huge corruption in the Buhari administration in the last four years, as well as those who will assist in channeling funds to individuals and groups used by the APC to rig the 2019 presidential election.

Strangely, the list has no space for the youths demography, those to whom the future is said to belong”.

The PDP holds that with this development, it is clear that the only way our nation can come out of our present economic and security quandary lies in the retrieval of Atiku Abubakar’s stolen Presidential mandate at the tribunal.

“That is the way our citizens will enjoy the benefit of having an array of highly qualified and patriotic Nigerians as ministers to move the nation forward”.

List of Ministerial Nominees