Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are in a quandary over what they perceived as President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to shut them out of the process of picking his ministers. Buhari, who has promised to name his cabinet in September, is expected to forward the ministerial list to the National Assembly before September 26.

But multiple sources in the APC told New Telegraph at the weekend that the party leaders were in the dark over the composition of the cabinet. “We have adopted a wait-and-see approach on Buhari’s cabinet. We have done what is expected of us, in terms of submitting nominees.

You know you can’t predict the president. So, the choice is now left for the president,” a senior member of the party said. A cross-section of the party’s national leaders said the president had opted to “select members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in a closely- guarded manner” such that the party leaders did not know those to make the cabinet list.

A member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party stated that the APC leadership had no input in the expected cabinet, unlike what was obtainable in the days of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Sources said the president only requested for names of possible nominees from some influential members of the party, but there was no guarantee that any of the nominees would make the list in the end.

The source said: “Some of the party leaders have been given the privilege of nominating people into the cabinet. Some governors have also been given a similar privilege. But going by previous appointments made by the president, we have resigned to fate. President Buhari is unpredictable.

“You can’t change his view on his cabinet. But we have left him to make his choice. The party leaders do not have a clue of what the president intends to do. So, we have given up. “There is no party leader that is sure of those who will make the cabinet.

The selection is closely guarded by the president. So, we are at a loss.” New Telegraph learnt that in the past three weeks, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had begun discreet screening of the would-be ministers. A security source said some of those screened passed the integrity test while others failed. “I can confirm to you that both the DSS and the EFCC have done integrity test on the would-be ministers. It is an ongoing exercise,” the source said.

One of the party leaders said some APC leaders were made to submit fresh nominees when their candidates failed security checks. Another source said the recent debtors’ list published by the nation’s commercial banks affected some of the nominees.

“The president feels that if you have un-serviced debt with banks, it creates a credibility issue. So, some of the initial nominees were affected by the development. Now, fresh names are being submitted and screened,” he added. Some of the party leaders, however, decried a situation where persons who worked for the party were screened out because of corruption allegations.

“These are people who worked for the success of the party. They spent their monies for the party. Unfortunately, they are now seen as corrupt people. Neither Buhari nor APC members are saints. But we have left the choice for the president,” a party leader told New Telegraph. Besides, it was also learnt that the party leaders were worried over the possibility of non-party men dominating the cabinet.

New Telegraph gathered that because they are uncomfortable with what they called the ‘technocrats question’, some leaders of the APC are billed to meet Buhari this week. A top member of the party’s national caucus said the proposed meeting, if agreeable to the president, would discuss the ‘musings’ within the party followership as a result of certain appointments that have been made so far. The source said the recent appointments made by Buhari had sent disturbing signals within the party even as he said some stakeholders were beginning to “take steps to pre-empt possible loss of hope.”

“We all worked for the party throughout the country and campaigned for all our candidates. We know we are indebted to Nigerians who voted us in by way of performance. “But to say that politicians cannot perform now, that the same people have delivered the needed change, means strange things to most of us in the party. It is like what one of our leaders called one chance bus; it is disturbing and upsetting when one thinks of it and this is just the general feeling all over the leadership of the party.

“So when we begin to hear stories that only trusted technocrats are likely to make the ministerial list, we begin to wonder what could be wrong; and the simple thing is that some people might begin to take steps to preempt possible loss of hope. “I think that is one of the reasons behind the issue of the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, having a re-think on his decision not to contest the governorship in his state. The truth is that he is not sure of what to get at the centre, having worked assiduously for the party.

“I can say that if others have his opportunity, they would seize it because that is the only way to get political benefit and relevance after the struggle,” he said. But Sylva has dismissed the claim that he joined the governorship race out of fear of losing out in the race to be one of Buhari’s ministers. Sylva, who spoke through his media aide, Doifie Ola, said as one of the national leaders of the APC, whatever decision taken had been after due consultations with the president. “That it is out of frustration at the centre that Sylva is running for governor cannot be true.
One, the man has not officially declared that he would run for the governorship of the state. “Second, the president has not appointed ministers, so there is no question of whether or not his desire to be governor again is borne out of whatever loss in that regard. “I can tell you that as one of the leaders of the APC at the national level, whatever decision taken by the former governor has always been, and can only continue to be after due consultations with the president,” Ola said.

New Telegraph