Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
and erstwhile Lagos State Governor,
Senator Bola Tinubu, are locked in a
war of attrition over the formation of
President Muhammadu Buhari’s
cabinet. Already, former Lagos State
Commissioner for Finance and a
nominee of Tinubu into the cabinet, Mr.
Wale Edun, has become the first
casualty of the ego war.
Sources told New Telegraph that Edun,
who Tinubu had recommended to
Buhari to be Minister of Finance, has
been dropped despite being screened
by the Department of State Services
(DSS). He is to be replaced by former
Lagos State Commissioner for Budget
and Economic Planning, Mr. Yemi
Cardoso, as a Lagos representative in
the cabinet.
Cardoso is the chairman, Citibank
Nigeria Limited. In preparation for the
coveted seat, Edun had led the All
Progressives Congress (APC)
delegation to Washington to attend the
spring meetings of the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund (IMF) in
April.
Edun’s problem started when a group of
influential Lagos indigenes, including
traditional rulers and some of his
colleagues that served in the Tinubu
administration, kicked against his
choice as a Lagos State ministerial
nominee. The opposition informed the
decision of Tinubu to ensure Edun
becomes Ogun State nominee. But
Obasanjo and the Ogun State Governor,
Senator Ibikunle Amosun, also kicked.
A source informed New Telegraph that
Obasanjo called Tinubu and advised
him to desist from pushing Edun as
Ogun State nominee. He was said to
have warned that Ogun people would
not allow Tinubu to fill the slot of the
state with somebody whose work and
career were rooted in Lagos State.
The former president reportedly cited
the example of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo,
from Ogun State, whom Tinubu
nominated as vicepresident, adding that
he considered Osinbajo to be more of a
Lagosian than an indigene of Ogun
State.
It was learnt that Obasanjo and
Amosun have agreed to give the state’s
slot in the cabinet to a former Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) National
Auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha. Sources
said the two recent visits of Obasanjo
to Buhari in Abuja was first to submit
his ministerial list and for further
consultations.
A source in the presidency told New
Telegraph that Obasanjo’s nominees
include: former Osun State Governor,
Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun);
former Governor of Ekiti State and now
the Deputy National Chairman (South)
of the APC, Chief Segun Oni (Ekiti);
Mustapha (Ogun); former Minister of
Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili and
erstwhile Governor, Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.
The source added that the submission
of the ministerial list by Obasanjo to the
president informed the September 9
visit of Tinubu and former Interim
National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi
Akande, to Buhari, 24 hours after the
former president visited. “Tinubu and
Akande’s visit to President Buhari on
September 9 was an impromptu
meeting. An influential official in the
presidency told them of Obasanjo’s
surreptitious moves to corner the
ministerial nominees from the South-
West.
This is why the two leaders visited,” the
source said. At the meeting with Buhari,
Tinubu and Akande reportedly told the
president that South-West APC leaders
would not accept a situation where
Obasanjo would determine those who
become ministers.
It was learnt that Tinubu and Akande
did not oppose the choice of Oyinlola as
a minister representing Osun State. “It
was a moral issue. Obasanjo is not a
member of the APC and cannot
appropriate the positions of the zone to
himself. The South-West leaders have
been meeting for two months on the
ministerial nominee, only for Obasanjo
to sit in Ota and draw up a ministerial
list. That is why the leaders kicked
against the idea. “That will be killing the
party in the South-West.
He can’t be an alternate APC. Obasanjo
should be respected as a leader, but he
can’t hijack what belongs to the region.
“On Obasanjo’s ministerial list, former
Governor Oyinlola featured just as his
name featured from the list submitted
from the state.
There was no resistance to Oyinlola’s
nominee because that was part of the
agreement before his defection from
the PDP to the APC. The party has
fulfilled one leg of the agreement by
ceding the senatorial slot to Senator
Isiaka Adeleke who also defected from
PDP to the APC,” an influential member
of the APC said. The source added that
based on Tinubu’s complaint, Buhari
reportedly promised to look into the
issue.
As it is, Obasanjo has been given two
ministerial slots of Ogun and Osun –
Mustapha and Oyinlola – while Tinubu
and South- West leaders would fill the
four other slots remaining in the
geopolitical zone.
One of sources said Buhari, who had
promised to constitute his cabinet by
September 30, would submit the
ministerial list to the National Assembly
next week either before his trip to New
York on Tuesday to attend the United
Nations conference, or on his return
from the trip. In addition, it was learnt
that the DSS had screened ministerial
nominees and forwarded its report to
the president.
Those who failed the integrity test had
been replaced. It was learnt that Buhari
had settled for former Rivers State
Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, as the
nominee from the state;
notwithstanding the opposition against
his candidacy from top officials of the
PDP government in the state. Amaechi,
who was the Director-General of the
APC Presidential Campaign Council,
lost out in the bid for the Secretary to
the Government of the Federation (SGF)
. One of the sources also said a former
Governor of old Abia State, Dr.
Ogbannaya Onu, had been asked to
choose between being a minister and
getting an ambassadorial posting. The
source said Onu, who also lost out in
the SGF race, had settled for the Ebonyi
ministerial slot. Former presidential
candidate and renowned economist,
Prof. Pat Utomi, is the likely nominee of
Delta State.
A group of professionals of which Vice-
President Osinbajo belongs, is rooting
for Utomi. Former Governor of Kano
State and now a senator, Dr. Rabiu
Kwankwaso, is likely going to make the
ministerial list. Kwankwaso, who was
Minister of Defence in the Obasanjo
administration, may retain the position
in the Buhari cabinet.
Although, a former Chief of Army Staff,
Lt. Gen. Abdurahman Dambazzau, who
is being touted as the next Minister of
Defence, has been screened, one of the
sources said he might be given another
portfolio.
“The president is considering having a
civilian as his Minister of Defence. The
basis for this is that there is always a
friction between the service chiefs and
the minister of defence with a military
background. Don’t forget that the
president is a retired general. So, if
Kwankwaso makes it to the cabinet, he
may end up as defence minister having
held the portfolio before,” the source
said.
In Edo State, either former Executive
Chairman, the Federal Inland Revenue
Service (FIRS), Mrs. Ifueko Omogui-
Okauru or erstwhile Special Adviser to
Obasanjo on Programme and Policy
Monitoring, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, may
get the state’s slot. Omogui-Okauru,
who stepped down as FIRS chairman in
April 2012, was recently appointed by
the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam
Nasir El- Rufai, to head the Kaduna
State Tax Reform Committee.
Ihonvbere is the Secretary to the Edo
State Government (SSG) and believed
to be the nominee of Governor Adams
Oshiomhole.
New Telegraph learnt that the only
name submitted for consideration as
minister for Kwara State is that of Mr.
Bolaji Abdullahi, an ally of the Senate
President Bukola Saraki. Abdullahi
served as Minister of Sports in the
Goodluck Jonathan administration and
was the Deputy Director, Directorate of
Policy and Strategy of the APC
Presidential Campaign Organisation. It
is not clear if President Buhari will
accept Abdullahi’s candidacy. If he
does, then the National Publicity
Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, may end up as Special
Adviser to the President on Aviation.
But if the president rejects Abdullahi,
then a technocrat or Mohammed may
fill the Kwara ministerial slot.
In Ekiti, the hope of former Governors
Niyi Adebayo, Segun Oni and Kayode
Fayemi was dashed by the choice of
human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana
(SAN). Vice-President Osinbajo was
said to have, in conjunction with
Tinubu, pushed for his candidacy as
the Attorney General of the Federation
and Minister of Justice. It was learnt
that General Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd)
lobbied retired Generals to have his
son, Niyi, as Ekiti nominee.
New Telegraph reliably learnt that the
APC South- West leaders have agreed
that the ambassadorial slot for Ekiti is
reserved for Fayemi. In Adamawa, Boss
Gida Mustapha, a lawyer, has been
tipped by the president as minister.
Mustapha lost the APC governorship
ticket to Senator Bindow Jibrilla, now
governor.
He was a member of the Ahmed Joda-
led transition committee set up by the
president. He is a former Deputy
National Chairman of the defunct Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Alhaji
Abubakar Malami (SAN), a member of
the Ahmed Joda transition committee,
has been tapped for the Kebbi
ministerial slot. He was with Buhari in
the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) where he served as National
Legal Adviser.
