It is no longer news that President Muhammadu Buhari is proposing (or has made up his mind) to have Cabinet Ministers without portfolios. And different persons have given their take for and against what seems a first of its kind in our Democracy.

Chief among the President’s reasons as asserted by him during the presentation of the Report of Ministerial Conformation by the Senate President is the state of the Nation’s economy. And truly the signs are everywhere that there is a decline in accruals to government and certainly this will or should call for measures to cut financial spendings on the part of any forward looking administration. But how exactly is the amount government spends on say a total of 36 Ministers assuming the package enjoyed by the last Cabinet? Many believe the pay wa(i)s draining the coffers. But isn’t a cut in their salaries/allowances a better option?

So if financing 36 plus Ministers is the President’s headache what happen to a bit of sacrifice on the part of his Cabinet? After all we have news gossips about some would – be Ministers who said they are ready to work for free. The President needs to explore this offer.

The second reason being pushed is the needlessness of the 36(7) Minister as called for by the Constitution. It is true that a lot of the Ministries and Agencies at the Federal level are more or less a split of another and; therefore the need to reduce their numbers. Now with say 17 or 18 Ministries one should have expect each to have a Minister and that of State. And I think the President could have bought the commitment of his Team to tow this line without necessarily putting pressure on the Federal purse instead of having a Cabinet of non portfolio holding Ministers

In the alternative since the Constitution didn’t say in black and white when a President should appoint his Ministers or the tenure of Office of same, Buhari should have used the last five months in pursuing a Constitutional change to effect a reduction in the size of a Federal Cabinet. And one sure way to ensure Federal Character and spread is to say give each of the Six Geo – political Zones say Three slots.

An argument is also brewing that the President cannot have Ministers without assigning them portfolios. Then he have the Nigerian past time of ‘marginalization’ to battle with because definitely cries will come from some quarters how their indigenes are made ‘redundant’

In conclusion, what President Buhari needs are COMPETENT and HONEST Advisers to guide him in settling down for the best option.

Philips M. Ndahi,

E: pmndahi@gmail.com

T: @pm_ndahi

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates

After all the drama characterising the screening of those who are to work with President Muhammadu Buhari as ministers, the Nigerian senate in performing its constitutionally-assigned duty cleared all those nominated. Though, legally speaking, we might conclude it is a forgone conclusion about the screening, the dusts raised by the exercise, especially with the screening and confirmation of the immediate past former Rivers state governor, Rotimi Amaechi, is still with us!

Before the ministerial list was officially announced, the social and traditional media were filled with rumours of Amaechi been “used and dumbed” by “Hausa/Fulani cabal” having worked tirelessly for the emergence of the present administration. In fact, the ethnic juggernauts and tribalistic harlots amongst us have done their utmost to on the one hand prevent Amaechi from becoming minister while on the other hand praying earnestly for his appointment so as to serve as a propaganda tool to blackmail Buhari’s anti-corruption stance. Their scripts were soon to be revealed soon after Amaechi was confirmed by the Nigerian senate with the senators elected on the platform of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) reportedly staging a walk out. My question then is: Can the PDP appoint ministers for President Buhari?

Many sophisticated Nigerians appear to have seen through the PDP’s antics. Most Nigerians probably know that their worst fear is that Amaechi, who is expected to hold a powerful position considering his role in the titanic 2015 election, will further sink party’s ship in its comfort zones. If they could not control him while he was governor under the PDP platform, how then could they control him if given a powerful postion in the All Progressives Congress (APC) government?

It is on record that Amaechi’s only offence against PDP was that he, against all odds, supported a Daura man from Katsina as President against “our son” from Otuoke. He is on record to have, as chairman of the Nigerian Governor’s Forum(NGF) demanded that things be done properly and according to due process. The misappropriation of the Excess Crude Account(ECA) and other oil revenues  under the President Jonathan administration which is still the subject of investigations, was a revelation of Amaechi’s NGF. The high chance of Amaechi’s protégé, Dr Dakuku Peterside, carrying the day at the re-run election can at best compound the party’s woes-hence he must be stopped whatever the costs!

The fact that Amaechi is a dogged fighter who hardly loses any battle scares the PDP even more than death. He, without having to solicit for votes won the River state Gubernatorial election in 2007 which can be better described as the beginning of the end of impunity in our history which the forces of reactions will never like to hear!

Need we say that if the history of the 2015 presidential elections were to be written today, Amaechi will be described as the David who conquered the Goliath Jonathan, by effectively ending the 16-year old PDP Empire? Can all these be why they fear him so much to have engaged in such a dance of shame on the floor of the senate?

Let me look at the issues a bit from PDP’s lenses. Amaechi is corrupt; a River state Government Panel has found him to have misappropriated some amount of money; the government “White Paper” is before the Senate and on the basis of this, Amaechi cannot be a Minister of the Federal Republic. One will only be left to wonder if the party suffers from amnesia. If not, how come they forget so soon?

I will address the question raised above latter. But let me still address, to the best of my ability, the question of whether Amaechi can be minister with the “White Paper”. As far as the laws of Nigeria are concerned, allegations remain allegations until proven otherwise. As far as the law is concerned, at the four corner of my room I can say for as long as I like that my step father stole public money, even going on the pages of newspapers to lay bare my allegations. Let us even say that I got my step dad arrested on the basis of my allegations, he was interrogated and later released for want of evidence. Does that make my step dad guilty just because some unpatriotic elements in the police got him arrested for an offence they hastily investigated?

Again, the PDP recites it like a nursery rhyme that none of its members is guilty of corruption until proven by a competent Court of Law. When the Buhari’s anti-corruption trail got to Diezani Alison-Madueke’s doorstep, the party was quick to shout “witch-hunting”(even though the witches now walk in the day time), but heaven must fall because a doctored “White Paper” says Amaechi Stole some money. If this is the case, I guess PDP’s situation then my best guess is either that the party is confused or ridiculously ignorant of the provisions of the law. Witches are only hunted when they are becoming a nuisance to the community, just as the farmer will not wait for the goats to finish the yams just because he thinks he will eat the yams as part of the goat’s meat!

Lest we forget, some months ago, a certain Musiliu Obanikoro was to be screened and confirmed minister in the teeth of protests from all APC senators, he was confirmed not minding the fact that all the three senators from Lagos, the state he was appointed to represent, opposed his nomination as the Senate Rules states. The PDP-controlled senate saw nothing wrong in appointing “Koro” as he is often called, screening and confirming him as minister even with a damning petition on his involvement in election rigging earlier in Ekiti. If there was nothing wrong in “Koro”, then nothing is with Amaechi’s nomination.

Close observers will also see the fact that PDP is appears not to know what it is afraid of. It, on one hand insists on “Federal Character” with one of its senators saying that the Senate will not approve Buhari’s ministers unless he appoints ministers from the 36 states; on the other hand it fears Amaechi’s appearance in the Cabinet could only spell doom for it. The walk out some of them staged could be best describes as a dance of shame!

Olalekan Waheed ADIGUN, a political analyst and strategist, writes from Lagos.

+2348136502040, +2347081901080

adgorwell@gmail.com

@adgorwell

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates

At last ‘Baba Go Slow’ as Buhari’s critics and adversaries would love to dub him has finally brought out his ministerial list albeit the first tranche. After keeping the nation waiting and guessing, the Senate President Bukola Saraki brought this suspense to an end when he reeled out the names of twenty-one of the nominees on October 6, 2015.

To say the list was disappointing is to put it mildly. What was the rationale behind the over sixteen weeks wait if many of the names that were propped up were familiar ones? We thought angels will make up the crop of the list as the body posture of Buhari seemed to loath the idea of working with the same establishment politicians. Alas our hopes were brutally dashed. Was the wait worth it? Where were the much touted technocrats that could give life and meaning to the change mantra which was the fulcrum on which this government was ushered in? The youngest age on the list was 48 years old. Is that fair to the youths that were the main drivers behind the emergence of the apple cart upsetting that saw the power of incumbency which former President Goodluck Jonathan wielded torpedoed? Is Buhari opining that Nigerians in their 30’s or early 40’s can’t be trusted with leadership positions?

There is always the need for political expediency in compensating politicians who worked for the party after the elections but there are other ways this can be done. Board and Ambassadorial appointments could fill in the lacuna. The kitchen cabinet should parade the brightest and the best who can most deftly articulate the policies of the government in order for the goods to be delivered. I understand the inclusion of former Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in the list because he stuck his neck and fought Jonathan who incidentally hailed from his South-South zone and risked all he had as Buhari’s presidential campaign coordinator but did all that make him deserving of a ministerial appointment? This was a man who locked up the courts for a year in his state because the National Judicial Council was not positively disposed to his candidate becoming the Chief Justice of the State. This was immaturity at its apogee as the larger society bore the brunt of it. Cases were unnecessarily stalled for much longer than necessary and there was chaos as a result of that ill-conceived decision borne out of sheer ego. He boldly said no one could probe him in the Punch Newspapers on September 4. Is he above the law? Why shouldn’t he be subjected to a probe which is the regular routine of past public office holders? Was he in office through the Divine Right of Kings Theory? It is ludicrous that such a man touts himself as a democrat.

Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN throve more on propaganda. Taking a critical look at his eight year rule in the economic nerve centre of the state, one is forced to ask: what really were his achievements? He ran an elitist government with most parts of the state especially on the mainland and the outskirts left in utter neglect. The Lekki-Epe expressway was a brutal way of extortion and the cruelest form of an anti-people policy. His undemocratic tenet showed up when policemen were dispatched to spray teargas on unarmed protesters led by popular Lagos lawyer, Ebun Olu Adegboruwa who were protesting the tollgate – a modern symbol of feudalism. The debt profile in the state by his admission skyrocketed to 418 billion naira. He could not sustain the free education policy as the dilapidated Lagos State Schools now subject their students to some form of levies to make up for the sparse government funding.

Audu Ogbeh was a minister for communications and mines and power from 1982 to 1983 under former President Shehu Shagari. That was over three decades ago and times have changed. Does he have what it takes to cope with demands of the new digital age? What more does he really have to offer Nigerians as he would have better suited as an elder statesman reeling out advice from his farm in an advisory capacity.

Chris Ngige was the beneficiary of a stolen mandate brazenly done by his erstwhile godfather, Chief Chris Uba. After the infamy was exposed, he portrayed himself as a defender of the masses by refusing to hand over the state treasury to the Uga born politician but he still tenaciously stayed put in the government house in a Macbeth like manner. It took three years of doggedness by Peter Obi to get him thrown out of the government house. It was then he discovered his ‘democratic credentials’ by pitching his tent with the then Action Congress of Nigeria and chanting the change slogan. How hypocritical!

Kemi Adeosun allegedly left Ogun state in a huge debt mess through reckless borrowings. These allegations need to be thoroughly investigated through scrutiny by the Senators on October 13 as we don’t want a rehash of this at the federal level as this would set the nation aback by another score or more. The agony of the Babangida years is still fresh in our memory.

There was no clear departure from the usual practice of not assigning portfolios to ministers. The only minister that we all know is Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as he will be the Minister of State for Petroleum since Buhari has admitted that he would supervise that ministry. For the rest, it resides in the mind of the President. This is wrong as the screening would be rather shallow. What will the Senate screen them for? How will we know their competence level for their proposed assignments? If the Senate could make a departure from allowing former Senators to merely take a bow, it should have put its foot down and insisted that Buhari should assign portfolios to enable them do a much more thorough job. After wasting four months, we can’t afford to have another God knows how long wasted again on trial and error.

It is a shame that after this long, we are still waiting for the second set to be sent and one wonders how long that will be! Let us see how well Buhari can make of this ‘crack’ team.

So much for waiting!

TONY ADEMILUYI

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates