From Ibrahim Musa Giginyu (Kano), Magaji lsa Hunkuyi (Jalingo) & Muideen Olaniyi (Abuja)
Thirty- seven days after, President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to replace two ministers; Sabo Nanono (Agriculture) and Saleh Mamman (Power) who were sacked over poor performance.
Since the sacking of the two ministers on September 1, top politicians from their home states, Kano (Nanono) and Taraba (Mamman), have been angling to replace them. Though the president had deployed two ministers to man the two ministries occupied by Nanono and Mamman, politicians who are members of the ruling party in their states are lamenting the delay.
While Kano has Bashir Magashi, the minister of Defence in the federal cabinet, Taraba has none.
In Kano, a former presidential aide on National Assembly Matters, Suleiman AbdulRahman (popularly known as Kawu Sumaila) and serving Senior Special Assistant on National Social Investment Programme to the President, Ismaeel Buba Ahmed, are already being projected as potential ministerial appointees from Kano State to return Kano’s slot to two in the federal cabinet.
Meanwhile, at least 32 chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Taraba State are jostling to replace Mamman, Daily Trust reports.
Attempts made to get the state party executives led by Abdullahi Abbas to comment on the matter yielded no result but a factional leader in the state and former national chairman of The Buhari Organisation (TBO), Alhaji Abdulmajid Danbilki Kwamanda, urged President Buhari to immediately replace Nanono.
He explained that the slot is meant for Kano State and it has become so worrisome to party members in the state that for over one month, Nanono’s replacement has not been named.
“As bonafide members of the ruling party and key contributors to the emergence of the administration, we deserve a fair representation in the Buhari-led administration. We protested when Nanono was selected, nobody listen to us. We have been vindicated,” he said.
However, for APC Youth leader in the state, Alhaji Sule Shuwaki, the delay in filling the Kano ministerial slot is dangerous to the state’s political survival. “There should be an element of equity and fairness considering the contribution of Kano State in the success story of APC as a political party,” he said.
In Taraba, politicians and key stakeholders also express worries over the continued delay in appointing Mamman’s replacement.
Rabiu Yakubu, an APC chieftain said the state deserves another slot of ministerial position in place of Nanono. “We appeal to the presidency to give another ministerial slot to Taraba in place of the former minister because it is our right and not a privilege,” he said.
Efforts to get the presidential spokespersons were unsuccessful but one of reporters gathered that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation would handle the matter after receiving nominations from party leaders in Kano and Taraba states.
