After a two-month wait, the long-awaited ministerial list has been submitted to the Senate for consideration and confirmation.
The list contained 28 names and was personally delivered during the plenary by Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, the immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives.
As per a law signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in March, an elected president or governor must, within 60 days of taking office, present the names of ministerial or commissioner nominees to the Senate or House of Assembly for confirmation.
During the plenary, the Senate invoked relevant sections of its Standing Rules to receive Gbajabiamila and the presidential communication.
The ministerial list, without specific portfolios, included four former governors who had just completed their constitutionally mandated eight years, along with six women.
Gbajabiamila justified the absence of portfolios, stating that it allowed the president the flexibility to assign ministries to the nominees.
The Chief of Staff revealed that 13 more names would be sent to the Senate soon for confirmation, and there might be a restructuring and creation of new ministries as part of the president’s reform initiative.
The inclusion of Nyesom Wike, the immediate past governor of Rivers State, in Tinubu’s ministerial lineup drew disapproval from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who criticized the list for lacking innovative individuals capable of rebuilding the country.
“There is nothing to give any renewed hope in the ministerial list just released.
“There is nothing to show for any renewed hope. It is just job for the boys. Reward for political patronage. There is nothing spectacular. It is nothing but an assemblage of some retired politicians being recycled.
“What are the likes of the former governors, who never commissioned any project while in office, coming to do in the proposed federal executive council that they could not do when they were governors?”
Specifically on the nomination of Wike, the NWC member said, “We are waiting for him to accept the offer. If he accepts, then to the PDP, it is goodbye to rubbish.
“We hope he accepts it, and this will give the party (room) to start looking inwards towards reorganization once the presidential petition of the party in the tribunal is disposed of for good.
“He cannot be a minister in a government of the APC and still be a member of the PDP. Yes, he secured a restraining order from the court that restrained the parry from suspending him.
“If he accepts, then he is no longer a member of the PDP, as PDP is not participating in Tinubu’s government and the party did not nominate him. So, to answer your question. We are waiting for him to accept it. If he does, then the party will take the necessary action.”
Former senator Shehu Sani also expressed his disapproval, stating that Tinubu embraced unreliable individuals and rewarded those who betrayed trust.
In his words, the president embraced some serpents with a known history of treachery and rewarded some vultures for playing the Judas. Appeasing a snake in a palace doesn’t spare the king.”
