Buhari’s Ministerial List: Anti-Climax

At last ‘Baba Go Slow’ as Buhari’s critics and adversaries would love to dub him has finally brought out his ministerial list albeit the first tranche. After keeping the nation waiting and guessing, the Senate President Bukola Saraki brought this suspense to an end when he reeled out the names of twenty-one of the nominees on October 6, 2015.

To say the list was disappointing is to put it mildly. What was the rationale behind the over sixteen weeks wait if many of the names that were propped up were familiar ones? We thought angels will make up the crop of the list as the body posture of Buhari seemed to loath the idea of working with the same establishment politicians. Alas our hopes were brutally dashed. Was the wait worth it?

Where were the much touted technocrats that could give life and meaning to the change mantra which was the fulcrum on which this government was ushered in? The youngest age on the list was 48 years old. Is that fair to the youths that were the main drivers behind the emergence of the apple cart upsetting that saw the power of incumbency which former President Goodluck Jonathan wielded torpedoed? Is Buhari opining that Nigerians in their 30’s or early 40’s can’t be trusted with leadership positions?

There is always the need for political expediency in compensating politicians who worked for the party after the elections but there are other ways this can be done. Board and Ambassadorial appointments could fill in the lacuna. The kitchen cabinet should parade the brightest and the best who can most deftly articulate the policies of the government in order for the goods to be delivered. I understand the inclusion of former Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in the list because he stuck his neck and fought Jonathan who incidentally hailed from his South-South zone and risked all he had as Buhari’s presidential campaign coordinator but did all that make him deserving of a ministerial appointment? This was a man who locked up the courts for a year in his state because the National Judicial Council was not positively disposed to his candidate becoming the Chief Justice of the State. This was immaturity at its apogee as the larger society bore the brunt of it. Cases were unnecessarily stalled for much longer than necessary and there was chaos as a result of that ill-conceived decision borne out of sheer ego. He boldly said no one could probe him in the Punch Newspapers on September 4. Is he above the law? Why shouldn’t he be subjected to a probe which is the regular routine of past public office holders? Was he in office through the Divine Right of Kings Theory? It is ludicrous that such a man touts himself as a democrat.

Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN throve more on propaganda. Taking a critical look at his eight year rule in the economic nerve centre of the state, one is forced to ask: what really were his achievements? He ran an elitist government with most parts of the state especially on the mainland and the outskirts left in utter neglect. The Lekki-Epe expressway was a brutal way of extortion and the cruelest form of an anti-people policy. His undemocratic tenet showed up when policemen were dispatched to spray teargas on unarmed protesters led by popular Lagos lawyer, Ebun Olu Adegboruwa who were protesting the tollgate – a modern symbol of feudalism. The debt profile in the state by his admission skyrocketed to 418 billion naira. He could not sustain the free education policy as the dilapidated Lagos State Schools now subject their students to some form of levies to make up for the sparse government funding.

Audu Ogbeh was a minister for communications and mines and power from 1982 to 1983 under former President Shehu Shagari. That was over three decades ago and times have changed. Does he have what it takes to cope with demands of the new digital age? What more does he really have to offer Nigerians as he would have better suited as an elder statesman reeling out advice from his farm in an advisory capacity.

Chris Ngige was the beneficiary of a stolen mandate brazenly done by his erstwhile godfather, Chief Chris Uba. After the infamy was exposed, he portrayed himself as a defender of the masses by refusing to hand over the state treasury to the Uga born politician but he still tenaciously stayed put in the government house in a Macbeth like manner. It took three years of doggedness by Peter Obi to get him thrown out of the government house. It was then he discovered his ‘democratic credentials’ by pitching his tent with the then Action Congress of Nigeria and chanting the change slogan. How hypocritical!

Kemi Adeosun allegedly left Ogun state in a huge debt mess through reckless borrowings. These allegations need to be thoroughly investigated through scrutiny by the Senators on October 13 as we don’t want a rehash of this at the federal level as this would set the nation aback by another score or more. The agony of the Babangida years is still fresh in our memory.

There was no clear departure from the usual practice of not assigning portfolios to ministers. The only minister that we all know is Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as he will be the Minister of State for Petroleum since Buhari has admitted that he would supervise that ministry. For the rest, it resides in the mind of the President. This is wrong as the screening would be rather shallow. What will the Senate screen them for? How will we know their competence level for their proposed assignments? If the Senate could make a departure from allowing former Senators to merely take a bow, it should have put its foot down and insisted that Buhari should assign portfolios to enable them do a much more thorough job. After wasting four months, we can’t afford to have another God knows how long wasted again on trial and error.

It is a shame that after this long, we are still waiting for the second set to be sent and one wonders how long that will be! Let us see how well Buhari can make of this ‘crack’ team.

So much for waiting!
TONY ADEMILUYI