FORMER Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi is rumoured to be out of favour with President Muhammadu Buhari and thus unlikely to be appointed a minister due to the number of corruption allegations hanging over his head. 

Tipped after the elections to be appointed to a key position, Governor Amaechi is a close confidant of President Buhari and was the director-general of Buhari/Osinbajo Campaign Organisation. Although he is part of an 18-man delegation that will accompany President Buhari to the US later this month, Governor Amaechi is suffering from the fact that several petitions have been filed against him. 

Other members of the delegation to the US include former vice presidential candidate Pastor Tunde Bakare and former member of the House of Representatives Hon Farouk Adamu. There are fears, however, that Governor Amaechi may be the subject of an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) suit soon. 

Already, the new Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike has instituted a probe into the activities of Governor Amaechi when he ran the state between 2007 and 2015. According to one EFCC official, Governor Amaechi may not make the list because the commission started investigating him over allegation of fraud amounting to N30bn (£97m) in 2007 when he was the then speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. 

President Buhari has promised to constitute his cabinet by September but he is under pressure to do it sooner as the uncertainty is creating a dangerous void. However, keen to retain his image as a clean leader out to combat corruption, President Buhari has directed that anybody arrested, detained, quizzed, or arraigned by the EFCC may not make his cabinet in line with his commitment to probity and transparency. 

Apart from Governor Amaechi, one of those who might be affected is the former head of service of the federation, Steve Oronsaye, who is said to be in contention for a prominent job in President Buhari’s cabinet. He, however, may be arraigned by the EFCC tomorrow before a federal high court in Abuja over alleged N1.9bn fraud case. 

Mr Oronsaye, who was arrested by the EFCC last week, was said to be in contention for the job of secretary to the federal government along with Governor Amaechi and former Abia State governor Ogbonnaya Onu. Apparently, Mr Oronsaye is the favoured candidate of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. 

Other Buhari loyalists facing EFCC cases are said to include former Kano State governor Rabiu Kwankwaso and ex-governors Timipre Sylva, Murtala Nyako, Prince Abubakar Audu and Danjuma Goje. President Buhari will find it almost impossible to appoint any of them into his cabinet unless they are cleared by the commission.