Ministerial List is not as Assummed

ministerial focus @nijacampus

Amaechi, Fashola and Kayode Fayemi were earlier reported to have failed the DSS screening test.

The former former Rivers State governors who was assumed to be Secretary to the Government of the Fedration (SGF) lost out in the bid after failing the DSS screening test.He was the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.

One of the sources also said a former Governor of old Abia State, Dr. Ogbannaya Onu, had been asked tole a coin 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 now rooting for Utomi. The former governor of kano state who is now a senator Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, is also likely 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.