When I saw the first of the two lists of ministerial nominees sent to the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari, I noted that he needed time to fix certain things which he had not stated, but that the delay in the presentation of the names wasn’t as a result of the reason given – an uphill task to select the best based on sheer merit, which was announced as his guiding principle.
The lists of familiar characters, members of which were first predicted, did not justify the long wait; six months after elections, and four since the inauguration. The lists are compiled based on the ancient formula of Africa’s cabinet formation, which is rewarding the foot-soldiers of a leader’s political ambitions and prospects, with a sprinkle of new names in our political space.
What we must know is, 1/8th of the President’s four-year tenure must elapse without a functional cabinet, as October is already going with the screening of nominees. With two months left for the new year, my prediction is, the nominees may get to settle down in November for some updates on the operations of the ministry assigned to them, benefiting from the tutorials of their permanent secretaries. And December is festive month. We shall have a focused government on their return from Christmas holiday in January, 2016!
The ongoing ministerial screening is a delightful spark of wisdom and theatrics.
Chief Audu Ogbeh, a nominee and former chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, starting his brief address at the ministerial screening, said that, 15 years ago, he warned “politicians of northern extraction” of a possible outbreak of violence in the region as a result of marked economic hardship, attributable to two trends, and one is “alienation of the youth.” He pointed to the Boko Haram as a vindication of his fear expressed years before the cult become the nation’s worst ever bogeymen. The irony of the oldest nominee in #TheList recognising the place of the youth may be understood by the President himself.
A lesson to many, especially the electorate polarised by political advocacies and fanatical promotion of partisan sentiments may be inferred from Lai Mohammed’s easy session at the Senate. Lai Mohammed’s easy se is only a confirmation of one thing; that our political elite are one, despite declared differences, especially in the media and in the assumptions of the gullible electorate. Lai Mohammed reportedly bowed 13 times amidst jests and laughter before leaving his amused colleagues.
You go personal with friends who subscribe to different political views, destroying friendship built in years, based on Lai Mohammed’s inflammatory statements as representative of the party you support (with your brains locked in a jar), here they are laughing (at you) at a televised reunion gathering on the floor of the National Assembly – and dismissing what you took for a real feud as just a charade.
We noted the brilliance of former Governors Fayemi Kayode and Babatunde Fashola, of Ekiti state and Lagos state respectively, during their screening sessions, though their responses elicited mixed reaction, especially with descriptions of their policies as governors as elitist, “anti-masses”. And, despite the criticisms, theirs were sharp contrast to those of fellow nominees Chris Ngige and Aisha Alhassan.
While Chris Ngige’s session was like the reunion speech of an ex-head boy who returned to address immediate juniors on life after graduation, Aisha Alhassan seemed to be at the screening simply to say hello to her former colleagues. Both, however, were there unprepared, and that may be because they knew their colleagues more than we do!
Another trivial observation is, all the senators seemed to struggle to “grill” any nominee likely to be made FCT Minister based on CV submitted or marked administrative and political experience, as though to show their faces as potential customers of the incoming “land seller”. It’s also true that our senators were also mesmerized – replace with “intimidated” – by foreign accents, and the thicker, the more effective.
What further contradicted the meticulousness said to have been applied in selecting the potential ministers is the scandal that is the nomination from Niger State; Ahmed Musa Ibeto, the immediate past Deputy Governor of Niger State was on the first list and then came the second list with Abubakar Bawa Bwari, also from Niger State, instigating confusion. The announcement on the floor of the Senate that Ibeto had been withdrawn, and replaced with Bawa Bwari, made one wondered what the long wait for the choice of these same nominees was really all about. May God save us from us!
