President Bola Tinubu has come under fire from the Labour Party leadership over the first round of cabinet nominees that the Senate announced on Thursday. According to the Labour Party leadership, the nominees are a collection of “recycled, spent forces and anti-democratic elements.”
Following the unveiling of the nominees, there have been conflicting reactions, with some detractors lamenting the absence of the eagerly sought “technocrats” from the long-awaited list.
Many young Nigerians have criticised the list on social media, claiming that the politicians on it were only chosen for their contributions to the previous election.
Nasir el-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna State, and his counterparts from Ebonyi, Jigawa, and Rivers — Dave Umahi, Badaru Abubakar, and Nyesom Wike, respectively — were among the nominees.
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Seven women made up the list, including Uju Ohanenye, the sole female APC presidential candidate at the previous convention, Hannatu Musawa, the deputy spokesman for the disbanded Tinubu-Shettima Campaign Council, and Betta Edu, the APC National Women Leader.
But according to a statement made in Abuja on Sunday by the Labour Party’s national publicity secretary, Obiora Ifoh, presenting the list of ministerial nominees piecemeal, as the president did on Thursday, is against the Electoral Act.
Ifoh went on to claim that Nigerians were disappointed to find some ‘failed and clueless politicians’ on the list of ministers as opposed to the vibrant young people and result-driven technocrats that had been before promised.
The LP spokesman was also dissatisfied with the president’s decision to announce his ministerial nominees in batches rather than all at once, which would have given any credible government enough time to form a cabinet.
Some of these nominees, he claimed, “played important anti-democratic roles in the previous administration, especially since 2015, which saw the APC government break all of its pledges to Nigerians. We also witnessed “Prebendal” politics in full force, as the APC national leader’s cronies and lackeys were mostly chosen to receive rewards for subservience and blind devotion.
“This list does not in any way reflect the enormous reservoir of talents, potentials, and resources Nigeria is known for. It still baffles us as to why this government ignored the youthful and technocratic potentials that abound but rather chose to appoint spent forces that have failed Nigeria in the past.
“A glance at the list exposes the absence of technocrats who usually form the nucleus or core policy implementers in any given government and unfortunately in their place are fawning politicians who may not be of any help in the needed efforts to salvage and reposition the country.”
“Again, we are worried that the ministerial list is being presented piecemeal. The constitution of Nigeria clearly states that at least a minister must be appointed from each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The Electoral Act as amended also stipulates that a list containing ministerial nominees must be sent to the Senate within 60 days from the commencement of a government for screening and confirmation. But what we witnessed was a hurriedly prepared list that excluded nominations from about 10 states in clear violation of the laws of the land.
“Sixty days is quite a lengthy period for any serious government to form its executive team. This development appears even more ridiculous because we know that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has struggled to be president for over two decades and therefore should have been able by now to identify and have a solid team selected across the country that is qualified to hold ministerial positions. But this has not happened.
“Had it not for the Electoral Act which compels a government to submit a ministerial list within 60 days, given what we are seeing, one wonders how long it would have taken the APC leadership to form the government. This is because it took the immediate past APC administration over six months to appoint its ministers in 2015,” he stated.
