Buhari’s ministerial list read out by Senate President Bukola Saraki did not impress Mr Eke Eke.
To the public commentator, "recycling of ex-governors as senators and minister in Nigeria, is one reason why every attempt to address corruption in Nigeria will fail."
To which Dr Emma replied: I was expecting that change in Buhari speak meant introducing new blood and new ways of running the country. But as it appears, it is more of the old stuff as pouring old wine in a new wine bag. Oh well, another missed opportunity.It is the way of party politics. Those who contribute get the spoils."
President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial list read out by Senate President Bukola Saraki did not worth the long wait by Nigerians is the view of many.
The list contains a sitting APC senator from his (Katsina) state, former APC Governors from Lagos (Babatunde Fashola), Ekiti (Fayemi) and Rivers States (Rotimi Aamechi), former APC Senator from Anambra State who was also a former governor (Chris Ngige), defeated APC gubernatorial candidate from Taraba State, APC National Publicity Secretary who hails from Kwara State, a Third Republic Governor and APC supremo from Abia State and so on.
The National Chairman of LP, Alhaji Abdulsalam Abdulkadir, said that the President’s list was filled with “recycled politicians and individuals.”
Nigerian big time politicians are noe recycled from National assembly to governor, to Minsiters and so forth - the cycle continues.
This is not new. The Cabinet of former President Late Umaru Yar'Adua was also made up of immediate governors of ethir states appointed as Ministers.
They include Sam Egwu (Ebony), and Achike Udenwa (Imo), Muhammad Adamu Aliero (Kebbi) among others.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan appears to be the only president since 1999 that shunned former governors and political heavyweights in his cabinet. President Obasanjo's first cabinet (1999-2003) was almost in it's entirety made up of dead woods from 1960's politics. It was only during his second term that he made amends and went for technocrats.
Ex-governors move en masse to Senate
With the conclusion of 2015 elections there are 16 ex-governors in the new Senate.
Some moved straight from being governors to the Senate: They are Theodore Orji (Abia), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom),Jonah Jang (Plateau State) and Aliyu Wamako (Sokoto State).
Other ex- governors who are now senators are Sam Egwu (Ebonyi State), Adamu Aliero (Kebbi State), Isiaka Adeleke (Osun State), Joshua Dariye (Plateau State), Kabiru Gaya (Kano State), Abba Bukar Ibrahim (Yobe State).
Others are Danjuma Goje (Gombe State), Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa State), Ahmed Sani (Zamfara State), Bukola Saraki (Kwara State), George Akume (Benue State) and Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara State)
Buhari's Ministerial List, wasted efforts
The list did not show any surprise commensurate to expectations.
Alhaji Abdulsalam Abdulkadir said, “From independence till date, the same people are being recycled. Governors who ruled their states recklessly are on Buhari's ministerial list. They never considered any youth worthy of consideration as a minister. Many of them are analogues and are not in tune with modern day expectations.
“None of the ministerial nominees can meet our yearnings and expectations. It is very unfortunate that President Muhammadu Buhari will delay Nigerians for five months just for a list of recycled people and 21 names for ministerial positions. The implication is that before he brings the rest, four years tenure would have gone. This has shown Nigerians that nothing good will come from Buhari and the APC.
“This is to show Nigerians that the change mantra is fake; there is no sincerity of purpose there and no commitment to the Nigerian cause. They just deceived Nigerians with ‘change, change’ slogan and won the heart of Nigerians.”
Also, the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said that there was no fresh face on the list.
Odumakin, speaking for Afenifere, said, “One would have loved to see fresh faces who can at least offer hope. The list is however replete with a lot of faces that have been active part of the rot of the past years. There are persons perching on mountains of corruption and we can only hope that the Senate has enough resolve to do a proper screening. These are all Genesis people and not Revelation.”
A human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, said that nothing was inspiring about the list of the ministerial nominees.
He said all the nominees were familiar faces.
The lawyer said, “The impression that the President gave to everyone was that he was searching out for ‘saints’ to work with him. We could not have wasted the past three months waiting for Fayemi, Fashola, Amaechi, Ngige and Audu Ogbeh. These are people who had worked with the President, whose names he should have compiled even before he was sworn in.
“There was thus no need for all the hype and melodrama about the ministerial list, in the manner that the President has kept the whole nation in such frenetic suspense and deliberate guesswork.
“They all appear to be people of conscience, on the face of it, who ordinarily should help midwife a new Nigeria, but given the internal contradictions currently plaguing the ruling APC, then we may not expect any miracle from those names already announced.”
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