President Bola Tinubu has yet to comply with the constitutional requirement that he submit the names of ministry nominees to the Senate for consideration and confirmation 60 days before the deadline.
Recall that on May 29, when former President Muhammadu Buhari passed the reins of power to President Tinubu, he took the oath of office.
The Senate has not yet received the whole list of nominees for ministerial positions, according to multiple sources in the upper legislative house.
The list was completed, but the President was still making a few tweaks, according to sources at the White House last week.
One of the sources revealed that the President had originally penciled down four names in four states; however, those names have since been withdrawn and substituted with fresh names.
Objections to Ganduje
The opposition against Abdullahi Ganduje, the recently-resigned governor of Kano State and the rumored presidential favorite to succeed Senator Abdullahi Adamu as the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, delayed the submission of the final list to the Senate last week, according to a different source.
According to reports, Ganduje was initially under consideration for a position in the cabinet before Senator Adamu announced his retirement. Because Ganduje is from the same region of the country as Adamu, the North West, the President nominated him to take the former chairman’s place.
According to some APC insiders, this is creating an issue since they claim that Senator Tanko Al-Makura, the former chairman who is from the North-Central, was more “cool-headed than Ganduje” when he served as governor of Nasarawa State.
Senator Al-Makura was one of the front-runners for the job during the previous APC convention, but Muhammadu Buhari, the outgoing president, persuaded him to step aside for Senator Adamu.
At the time, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, then one of the APC’s presidential candidates, was accused of being an ally of the former governor of Nasarawa State.
The opposition to Ganduje’s selection, according to those aware with the intrigues surrounding the selection of the APC chairman, may have prevented the President from submitting the cabinet list to the Senate last week.
Despite rumors that the Red Chamber received the ministerial list last week, a highly placed insider told Vanguard in response to questions that we hadn’t yet received the whole list of nominations.
There would have been no need to preserve the list if we had already received it, according to the Clerk of the National Assembly.
A second source informed Vanguard that the President was still amending the list as of Friday and would submit the final list this next week.
The source stated: “The list is with Baba as of Friday, but I’m not sure about yesterday (Saturday).” Up until Friday, when he traveled, he continued to alter a few names every minute. He will call the Senate’s Presidential Liaison Officer this week and give him the list, nevertheless.
He will transmit the list this week, and the Senate will confirm the nominees this week.
President torn between Al-Makura and Ganduje
Speaking on the subject, a member from the South-West reported that the president confirmed he had not yet sent the list of his ministers for review.
The senator added that the politics surrounding the selection of the APC chairman were to blame.
The member remarked: “I understand the Senate President has received the list; the list’s additions and deletions are what are causing the delay. At the last minute, anything can occur.
“Politics and intrigues surrounding the potential selection of Dr. Umaru Ganduje as the national chairman of the APC are another factor contributing to the delay.
Most party leaders oppose Ganduje, but the majority support Tanko Al-Makura, the former governor of Nasarawa State, to succeed Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
‘’Additionally, they support Senator Ajibola Basiru, a former spokesman for the Senate, for the position of party secretary. Almakura, who replaced Adamu, is from Nasarawa, whilst Basiru, who replaced Omisore, is from Osun State.
‘’Given the allegations of corruption against Ganduje, the majority of APC officials are opposed to him serving as national chairman. They claim it is detrimental to the party’s reputation.
“As you are aware, the Kano State administration raised the issue, which is why the majority of leaders are claiming that it is bad for the party’s reputation.
“They have informed Asiwaju that they do not want Ganduje, but the decision-making authority rests with him,”
