Ministerial list: Panic, as outgoing govs, others lobby to make new cabinet

Posted by admin Latest Politics, Ministries Sunday, May 8th, 2011

Indications emerged on Saturday that some of the Peoples Democratic Party governors who failed to secure a second term in office in the just concluded elections are lobbying for ministerial appointments in President Goodluck Jonathan’s new cabinet.

Also, some ex-governors, particularly those whose tenures were cut short at election tribunals, are also making moves not to be excluded in the new order, which will begin on May 29.

SUNDAY PUNCH gathered from the Presidency that a number of the concerned governors and their colleagues have already reached out to the President on their desire to be members of the new Federal Executive Council.

Jonathan is expected to reconstitute the FEC after his inauguration later this month.

Despite the imminent dissolution of the FEC, most of the serving ministers are still nursing hopes of being part of the cabinet in the next administration.

“However, for those ministers from states where the PDP will not have governors after May 29, hopes of a continued stay in the cabinet have come under threat as a result of plans by the outgoing governors, and former governors, to use ministerial appointments to remain politically relevant in the short term,” a Presidency source, who craved anonymity said.

Although the source refused to name the candidates lobbying for appointments in the next dispensation, he said there were strong indications that some former governors would be part of the next cabinet.

He added, “Some of the governors who would be out of office by May 29, and others who had already lost their positions at the election tribunals are lobbying for ministerial appointments.

“Their lobbies are likely to be more effective than other interested parties because of the serious advantages they have working in their favour. They are highly influential in their states, even if the party (PDP) is not doing very well, having failed to win crucial elections, they are still very much in control of the party machinery at that level.

“You also have to consider that they have access to Mr. President himself.

“In fact, they have already made their intentions known to him, and it would not be easy for Mr. President to turn them down just like that.”

He added that in most cases, governors nominated ministerial nominees from their states and such governors might take advantage of it to press home their interests.

“It would not be unexpected if anyone of them pushes his own interest in the process, especially if Mr. President intends to dissolve and reconstitute the cabinet before May 29,” the source said.

The states where incumbent PDP governors did not secure another term in office are Oyo, Nasarawa and Zamfara, where governors Adebayo Alao-Akala, Aliu Akwa Doma and Mohammed Shinkafi, respectively, lost out.

Only on Saturday, the Governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, joined the league as he lost to the All Progressives Grand Alliance candidate, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.

Hitherto, PDP ex-governors in the South-West, Olusegun Agagu of Ondo State, Olagunsoye Oyinola of Osun State, and Segun Oni of Ekiti State, had all lost their positions at election tribunals.

Added to this, Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel, who is completing his second term in office, did not actualise his initial plan to secure a senatorial ticket in the just ended poll.

Feelers in the presidency indicate that as a result of this development, some ministers from the concerned states are fretting over their positions in the cabinet.

Findings by our correspondent showed that the failure of the governors to secure fresh terms in office has become the biggest threat to some serving ministers’ hopes of being retained in the cabinet.

Another source close to the FEC, who spoke to our correspondent, said, “The concern over the security of their positions in the cabinet” was a major topic in discussions among ministers before and after last Wednesday’s FEC meeting.

He added, “That is understandable as this is a transitional period. They (ministers) are well aware of the fact that more powerful people are lobbying to take some of the positions some of them are occupying.”

He noted that the ministers are in a quandary, as the President is yet to let them into his plans concerning the dissolution, and reconstitution of his cabinet.

“They (ministers) know it (reconstitution of cabinet) is coming but they don’t know what to expect,” he added.

Ministers from states where incumbent governors failed to secure fresh terms in office comprise the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Caleb Olubolade (Oyo); Information and Communication Minister, Mr. Labaran Maku (Nasarawa), and the Minister of State for Health, Suleiman Bello (Zamfara).

Until three weeks ago, Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho, the sacked Minister of Interior, represented Imo State in the cabinet.

Ministers from states where PDP governors had hitherto lost their positions at election tribunals are Defence Minister, Adetokunbo Kayode (Ondo); Sports Minister, Taoheed Adedoja (Ekiti); and Akinlabi Olasunkanmi (Osun).

Ministers from Ogun State, where the governor, Gbenga Daniel, will vacate office after May 29, are Minister of Commerce and Industry, Jubril Martins Kuye, and Minister of State for Agriculture, Awodele Najeem Adewale.wp_posts