The list of nominees into the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari is ready, and this
is authoritative.
President Buhari, it was learnt, ratified the list for transmission to the Senate shortly
before his departure to the United States on Thursday.
The list, according to an authoritative presidency source, is a mixture of technocrats and
politicians across all divides in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The source added that the list would be transmitted to the Senate for confirmation
“any time from now” ahead of the resumption of the National Assembly from recess
next week.
However, the source told Saturday Tribune that the list may be sent to the Senate in
batches “for reasons not yet disclosed.”
“The names were sent for screening and the screening was done. It is ready now.
Everything you people (the media) have been writing is nonsense, government is not run
like that,” the source said while referring to previous media reports on the conclusion of
the screening of ministerial nominees.
It was gathered that all the former parties that coalesced into the APC are represented
on the list. “Even there is at least one PDP person there,” the presidency source, who
did not want his name mentioned, added.
“Some other interest groups and individuals were also considered by the president in
order to ensure national and political balancing but it is a team of change,” the source
said.
The National Assembly had been on recess since last month and there have been
anxieties as to whether or not the president would transmit the list to the Senate under
Senator Bukola Saraki because of the seeming crisis between the two arms of
government.
Buhari had promised that he would get his cabinet ready by September 30 this year.
Anti-Saraki forces plan mass protests
Meanwhile, forces opposed to the leadership of Senator Bukola Saraki as the Senate
president appear to have concluded plans to embark on mass protests to drive home
the morality of the need for the man to “resign honourably,” sources have said.
Investigations by the Saturday Tribune confirmed that some groups of protesters are
already mobilised and would start their campaigns from Monday, September 28.The
Senate is set to resume on September 29 after a six week annual recess.
Sources said that a prelude to the planned action might have been witnessed in Ilorin
on Thursday when some persons led the attack on the Senate president and other
dignitaries during the eid prayers in the Kwara State capital.
Investigations revealed that following the arraignment of Saraki at the Code of Conduct
Tribunal (CCT), some leaders of the APC have perfected plans to move the battle
against him to the second stage, which is to orchestrate campaigns that are expected
to catch like wildfire across the country.
Sources said that the second stage of the move against Saraki is aimed at weakening
his public image and popularising the idea that he needs to resign.
It was learnt that many of the protesters are to campaign on the grounds that Saraki’s
continued occupation of the chairmanship of the National Assembly and Senate
presidency would amount to a stain on the anti-corruption war embarked upon by the
government of President Buhari.
It was learnt that the protests are to be sustained until the resumed hearing of the CCT
suit against Saraki on October 21.
A source in the know said: “The real plan concerning the arraignment of Saraki was
originally aimed at achieving two things. One was to keep him behind bars from Friday,
September 18, the first day the CCT suit was to hold and then pave the way for the
senators to remove him. The second was to orchestrate that campaign that his
arraignment was bad enough for the anti-corruption war of the current government. But
since Saraki did not appear before the CCT on September 18, the first leg was
affected. Now the arraignment on September 22 has emboldened them to start their
street campaign.”
It was also gathered that the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu is to come
under special scrutiny to ensure he is also faced with threatening charges that would
force him to resign.
“The target really is Ekweremadu. If he agrees to resign, it would be easier for Saraki to
continue. But Saraki became the target when he refused to lift a finger when told that
he should sacrifice his deputy,” a source said.
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