LEKE BAIYEWU examines the challenges ahead of the ministerial nominees at the Senate in this report
ON July 27, 2015 – 59 days after the
inauguration of the current administration – President Muhammadu Buhari
told Nigerians that in assembling those who would work with him,
especially ministers, he would avoid compromised people and those he
described as “hostages.”
According to him, those who belong to
these two categories are Nigerians who have compromised personal and
professional integrity and those who have somebody tele-guiding them
from behind the scene at the expense of the nation.
The
President, while featuring on a live programme, ‘Good Morning Nigeria’,
on the Nigerian Television Authority, stated that he needed decent,
patriotic, hardworking technocrats and politicians to work with him in
order to achieve his dream of repositioning the country.
Buhari said, “From what I have seen so
far, we need very patriotic Nigerians to be ministers; Nigerians that
can work very hard with knowledgeable experience; committed Nigerians to
be in charge of ministries.”
After Buhari painted the picture of the
kind of people that would be in his cabinet, it took the President
another 65 days to make his final decision.
After a long wait, the President is set
to form his cabinet. If the names said to be on the list he sent to the
Senate are anything to go by, he might have considered the
constitutional Federal Character principle. The 21 nominees said to be
on the list are from 21 states.
Those said to be on the list are a former
Governor of Anambra State, Senator Chris Ngige; a former Governor of
Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; a former Governor of Rivers State,
Rotimi Amaechi; a former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola
(SAN); former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.)
(Kano); and governorship candidate of the APC in Taraba State, Aisha
al-Hassan.
Also on the list are a former Governor of
Abia State and ex-Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Ogbonaya
Onu; a former Commission for Finance in Ogun State, Kemi Adeosun; a
former National Legal Adviser of the defunct Congress for Progressives
Change, Abubakar Malami (SAN) (Kebbi); Senator Sirika Hadi (Katsina);
and Adebayo Shittu (Oyo).
Others
are Sulaiman Adamu (Jigawa), Solomon Dalong (Plateau); the Group
Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ibe
Kachikwu (Delta), Osagie Ehanire (Edo), Udoma Udo-Udoma (Akwa Ibom),
Ahmed Isa Ibeto (Niger), Ibrahim Jibril, Audu Ogbeh (Benue); a special
adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon,
Amina Mohammed (Kaduna); and a former Inspector-General of Police and
ex-Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Ibrahim Coomassie.
However, some critics, who often condemn
large number of recycled politicians in government, have expressed their
disappointment with the names that have leaked so far. According to
them, Buhari did not need to spend four months to name those that had
already been touted to be ministers.
For instance, the National Publicity
Secretary of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Mr. Yinka
Odumakin, reportedly said the President could have submitted the names
of the nominees at Eagle Square venue of his inauguration.
While noting that there was nothing
unique about the list, he said the names were not worth waiting for, for
a period of four months.
“There is no excitement or surprise in the list. They are mostly run-of-the-mill people that do not warrant waiting four months to have. Those names could have been submitted at Eagles Square on May 29,” Odumakin added.
However, Adesina, while featuring on a breakfast programme of the African Independent Television, Kaakaki, on October 1 to commemorate the Independence Day, dismissed the criticism.
He said, “What is wrong with recycling,
if that person has something he is bringing to the table? Recycling
would be wrong if that person is adding no value. But if he is adding
value, what is wrong with recycling?”
The Senate has the constitutional
responsibility to screen ministerial nominees sent to it by the
President for approval. Thus, when the National Assembly resumed from
its long recess last Tuesday, it reawakened the agitation for anxiety
over Buhari’s ministerial candidates.
On
Wednesday — the September 30 deadline President Buhari gave — he sent
the list of the first batch of nominees – 21 of them – to the President
of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, after the Senate had adjourned plenary
till Tuesday.
Saraki’s Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, later told journalists that the list
would be read on the floor during plenary on Tuesday.
“The Senate President received the ministerial list around 5:00pm this evening but no action would be taken on it until next week Tuesday. The envelope is still sealed,” he said.
Notwithstanding, after Saraki received
the ‘sealed’ envelope containing the list, the media is awash with names
of individuals said to be on the list, many of which tally with those The PUNCH had earlier reported to have been screened by the Department of State Services discreetly.
While there are reports that there is an
internal wrangling in the ruling All Progressives Congress over
ministerial nomination, some political analysts have warned about
another battle ahead for those who made the nomination list.
The Senate has noted that the era of “bow
and go” screening at the National Assembly, where lawmakers may not
question presidential nominees to test their eligibility and competence
before their appointments were approved, was over.
Observers of the political power play in
the APC have called attention to the fact that due to the ongoing move
against Saraki by some powerbrokers in the ruling party, there is likely
to be retaliation against the nominees, especially those believed to
have been nominated the anti-Saraki party leaders.
The Senate President now has the majority
of the senators on his side. It will be recalled that over 80 senators
of the 108 (after the death of Senator Zannah from Borno) in the Upper
House are loyal to Saraki, as they have passed their vote of confidence
on him twice since June 9.
In what seems like a confirmation of the
fears in some quarters, the Chairman, Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Media
and Publicity, Senator Dino Melaye, a Saraki die-hard loyalist, had told
journalists that the Senate “will attend to the ministerial nominees
expeditiously but diligently, once the list was sent by the President.”
He said, “Due process will be followed
and I repeat that it is not going to be business as usual; we are going
to properly screen all nominees and only those who meet the
constitutional and moral requirements shall be cleared.”
The Senate has hinted Nigerians that it
would decide the procedure for screening the nominees on Wednesday. The
Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, who told The PUNCH on
Thursday that the screening would not be delayed by the upper
legislative chamber, pointed out that the exercise would be thorough
just as the nomination process adopted by the Presidency was.
According to the analysts, a can of worms
might be opened and the nominees, especially those who had previously
served in public offices, might be rigorously drilled for their actions
and inactions while in office.
Of the category of former elective public
office holders on the list, Fashola and Amaechi stand out, perhaps due
to their popularity.
Fashola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, is
an ex-two-term governor of Lagos. He was the Chief of Staff to his
predecessor and National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. He was
also with Tinubu in the
Action Congress of Nigeria, which merged with
other parties to form the APC.
While in office, he was widely acclaimed
to be one of the best performing governors. After the presidential
primary of the APC, he was touted as one of those most favourable to
become Buhari’s running mate.
Fashola had, however, come under fire
after the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency posted a report on its
website stating that N78.3m was paid to a firm, Info Access Plus
Limited, for the upgrade of his website, www.tundefashola.com, through the Office of the Chief of Staff to the Governor.
In addition to that, a civil society
group, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, had urged President Buhari not
to consider Fashola, for appointment. The Executive Chairman of CACOL,
Mr. Debo Adeniran, had alleged that Fashola’s administration was
engulfed in several controversies which could not be overlooked.
In a letter to the President titled,
‘Don’t elevate Fashola,’ CACOL said if Buhari wanted to actualise his
mission of ‘change,’ he would need to distance himself from controversy.
The letter read, “It is gratifying that
you have promised at various fora that your appointments would be purely
based on merit and that tested technocrats, with impeccable records,
would be given their rightful places in your administration, as a way of
ensuring good governance to the people of Nigeria. It is against this
background that our organisation is appealing to you to please take the
pains to dig deep into Mr. Babatunde Fashola’s record of performance as
well as that of financial propriety on the part of his government while
in office.”
Adeniran noted that when another activist
group, the Socio-Economic Right Accountability Project, invoked the
Freedom of Information Act to know how the Fashola-led administration
spent a $200m World Bank education fund, it refused to provide the
information.
The CACOL boss said independent
investigations by the group showed that the 1.36km Lekki-Ikoyi Link
Bridge, which was reportedly built for N25bn, cost only N6bn.
He said he had written a series of
petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to probe the
various projects of the Fashola-led government in the face of the over
N500bn debt left behind by the administration.
Fashola had defended the N78.3m
expenditure and admitted that the money was actually spent on his
website in a five-page letter he personally signed.
He, however, said the breakdown of the
transaction was left out and that that was the cause of the confusion,
adding that the contract was published in a way as to misinform members
of the public.
Among other details, Fashola said, “As
far as the website contract is concerned, yes there was a contract. It
went through procurement and was approved by the government agency
authorised to do so. One of the services was an upgrade quoted for
N12.5m but awarded for N12m.”
The ex-governor further said the website
helped him to do his job effectively when he was governor. He said till
date there have been over 27 million hits on the site while thousands of
videos and pictures had been uploaded on the site.
While reacting to the bashings he
received from the Peoples Democratic Party in the state over the over
N419bn debt he left behind, Fashola noted that all the loans taken by
the state were approved by the House of Assembly. He added that the
debts were being serviced, adding that the debt profile of the state had
not affected it negatively.
Fashola said, “I expect that there may be
more distorted allegations without evidence for reasons that remain in
the realm of speculation because I have been informed reliably that
large amounts of money are being paid to some of these agents to bear
false witness.
“I cannot conclude without responding to the crusade of CACOL and their ilk seeking my prosecution on allegations that have no proof and writing pre-emptive letters to the Presidency.“In case they are unaware, I am not looking for a job. I expect them to know that allegations of wrongdoing are not resolved without evidence, neither are they resolved in press conferences.”
Amaechi, just like Fashola, was a
two-term governor of Rivers State. He was named as the Director General
of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, which took Buhari’s
electioneering to every part of the country and secured his victory.
All through their tenure, Amaechi had a
running battle with President Goodluck Jonathan and more particularly
his wife, Patience Jonathan, who is from Rivers.
Amaechi’s successor, who is a political godson of the Jonathans, has engaged his predecessor in another round of war.
Three days to Wike’s inauguration, he had
indicated his readiness to probe the outgoing administration after his
swearing in. He specifically said those who participated in the use of
N4.5bn to conduct a local government election by the Rivers State
Independent Electoral Commission, even when a court had stopped the
exercise, would be made to account for their actions.
Amaechi had challenged Wike to carry out
his plan. “I heard that Wike says he will probe me. I have not asked him
not to probe me. He should remember that he was my Chief of Staff for
four years; I have my records on him. He should go ahead,” he said.
On June 19, Wike inaugurated a Judicial
Commission of Inquiry to investigate Amaechi’s administration over the
alleged sale of valued assets belonging to the state.
Wike specifically charged the probe panel
to investigate the sale of the 150MW gas turbine in Omoku, Adam 360MW
Gas Turbine, Trans-Amadi 136MW gas turbine and the 75MW gas turbine in
Eleme.
With 23 terms of reference available to
the commission, the governor explained that it was expected to
investigate the monorail project and the sale of the Olympia Hotel by
the last administration. He also instructed the commission to
investigate the non-execution of the contract for the construction of
the Justice Karibi Whyte Hospital after Amaechi’s administration paid
$250m to the contractor.
The governor also directed that the
commission should investigate the withdrawal and expenditure of the
accrued N96bn from the Rivers State Reserve Fund without compliance with
the extant law.
Amaechi, in a statement on June 21,
however, described Wike’s probe of his administration as a sham and a
fraudulent witch-hunt designed to deceive members of the public.
The statement read in parts, “This
so-called Wike’s probe of Amaechi is dead on arrival. All the noise Wike
is making is to grab media headlines with his lies of monumental
corruption against Amaechi. It’s all drama made for the media.”
Amaechi had approached a Rivers State
High Court to challenge the setting up of the commission but the court,
on August 20, dismissed the suit.
Justice Simeon Amadi, who delivered
judgement on suit number PHC/187/15, affirmed that the judicial
commission of inquiry was not established to investigate the personal
activities of the former governor. He added that the commission was
established to investigate previous actions of government as they
affected the people of the state.
According to him, Wike, by the provisions
of the law, is empowered to establish the judicial commission of
inquiry to investigate previous actions of government.
Justice Amadi specifically said there was no law preventing a state government from finding out how her resources were expended.
For Fayemi, the senators may also want to
ask questions on the new Government House in Ado-Ekiti, which he
commissioned shortly before he stepped down as governor.
His predecessor, Governor Ayodele Fayose,
later claimed that N3.3bn, money from a loan, was spent on the
building, an allegation that attracted wide criticisms against Fayemi.
Fayose, who criticised the huge amount
spent on furniture and maintenance of the building, alleged that a
contract for the maintenance of the property had awarded for N150m per
annum.
In a statement titled ‘N3.3bn New
Government House is Fayemi’s Show of Wickedness to Ekiti People,’ which
was issued on October 21, 2014, Fayose accused Fayemi of spending N50m
on beds in his and his wife’s bedrooms in the Government House.
The statement read in part, “Between
Fayemi and his wife, what was spent on their bedrooms, toilets and
bathrooms will be in the region of N100m.
“How can a responsible government use borrowed funds to provide this kind of luxury for the governor and his family alone, in a state where a lot of people cannot afford to feed more than once in a day?“Here is Fayemi, who could not pay workers salaries, owing them two-month salaries before he left. A Fayemi, who out of sheer wickedness refused to pay pensioners N2.4bn pension and gratuities; N400m workers leave bonus, N700m subventions to parastatals and tertiary institutions and remit N2.4bn four months’ cooperative society’s deductions from workers salaries preferring to use N3.3bn borrowed funds to provide luxury for himself, his wife and children alone. This is wickedness!’’
But Fayemi, through his media aide,
Olayinka Oyebode, had said the allegation was more about The Comedy of
Errors. He advised Fayose to stop the theatre of absurd.
Fayemi’s media aide said, “I have taken a
guided tour of that place and I don’t think I have seen such an outcry.
I don’t know where they got their figure from; it sounds absurd. I’ll
advise them to stop this theatre of absurd. Governance is a serious
business and I am appealing to them not to reduce it to a joke.
“They are turning Ekiti into a circus
show and they should stop it. It is childish and puerile for them to
have come up with that figure. There is nothing ostentatious about Dr.
Fayemi’s lifestyle: the lodge is there as a property of the state.
“Whether Fayose stays there or not is his
cup of tea. The new government house is a legacy building. Dr. Fayemi
did not go with it to Isan-Ekiti; it is for the state. It is not about
personal aggrandisement; it is a befitting edifice for the state. Go to
other states of the federation and see their government houses. Ekiti
State deserves the best.”
Dambazau, a close ally of Buhari who was
widely expected to be the National Security Adviser until the hope was
dashed at the last minute, may also be asked more questions over some
pending allegations against him.
At the peak of the late former President
Umaru Yar’Adua’s sickness and his long treatment abroad, the news – true
or false – broke that Dambazau, as the Chief of Army Staff, awarded
some “Peacekeeping” contracts worth N9bn to fictitious companies
reportedly owned by James Ibori (who is currently serving jail terms in
the United Kingdom for corruption-related offences), an Isreali arms
supplier, Alon Neiken (the owner of Megaplaza in Lagos) and himself
(Dambazau).
The companies involved, according to the
unconfirmed report, were HIS Nigeria, Nurit International, Yommy
Logistics, Mass International, Arsenal International and M-2
International.
Although no serious evidence has been
brought forward to back this claim, it may be an issue Dambazau may have
to contend with when he will be screened.
The country has 36 states and the law
stipulated that the federal cabinet must have at least a representative
from all the state. Buhari is expected to send 15 names in addition to
the 21 in the first batch.
In his assessment of the issues around
the cabinet formation, a former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar
Association, Ikeja Branch, Lagos, Mr. Monday Ubani, stated that the
names being reported to be on the list were still speculative until
Saraki announces them on Tuesday.
However, he said, “Let us assume that the
names being mentioned are actually the potential ministers, there are
some of them that have good records of service; they have held various
positions and you cannot write them off.
“Also, the man at the helm of affairs, in
the person of President Buhari, will provide direction in leadership.
Even if any person is alleged to be corrupt but under the new
dispensation, having regard to the fact that the head does not condone
corruption, it will be very difficult for anybody to be corrupt in this
administration. What will happen is that the person will be openly
disgraced and kicked out of the government.”
Speaking of his expectations from the
nominees’ screening at the Senate, Ubani said Buhari should have
attached the portfolios to the names of the nominees so that they can be
asked questions relevant to the assigned ministries. “Asking general
questions does not help us to determine the true state of mind of any
potential minister,” he added.
Ubani added, “I will want the Senate to
do a very thorough job with the screening of the ministerial nominees
unlike in the past where people would just take a bow and go (at the
National Assembly). I do not see any vendetta (by the senators). No
security agency has charged any of the nominees alleged to be corrupt
and none of them has any pending case in court.
“If the EFCC has any report against any
of them, it should present it before the Senate. In the absence of that,
I don’t see any of them victimised. If they are, Nigerians are watching
and we will be able to react accordingly.”
Also speaking, former Governor of the old
Kaduna State and Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political
Parties, Balarabe Musa, said the President does not necessarily have to
choose his ministers from outside the APC, if there are competent
persons in the ruling party.
He said, “What I expect to see, if the
President really wants to succeed, is known outstanding Nigerians who
have record of performance – known outstanding individuals. Being a
governor alone does not constitute known and outstanding. He must be
somebody who has a good record.
“I think it is wrong to choose just individuals. I am in favour of choosing outstanding party members and there are outstanding party members. He does not have to go outside, except in exceptional cases, like the case of the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice. The occupant of the office must very careful. On that, the President may go outside the party.”
However, a civil society group, Joint
Action Front, said what Nigerians needed was not who becomes minister
but what the government has laid down for members of the presidential
cabinet to do.
The Secretary of JAF, Mr. Abiodun Aremu,
said the group was putting more hope in a change of policy that would
address the concerns of Nigerians maximally.
He said, “We are less bordered about any
ministerial appointment. We are more concerned about the fundamental rot
in the polity. And it has to do with the policy of the government on
the direction of the economy. There is nothing that has shown in the
economic policy of the government that Nigeria is going to fundamentally
change. The direction of the economy is crucial. A minister only
implements the policy of the government. Putting so much expectation on
the minister will not change anything.”
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