Some bigwigs in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who were expected to form President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s cabinet are conspicuously missing on the ministerial list.
Daily Trust had last Thursday reported how the president sent the first list to the Senate. It contained 28 names. Earlier on Wednesday, Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the president, delivered the second list of 19 nominees to Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
In the weeks leading to unveiling of ministers, some persons were listed as potential cabinet members but the jury is out. Below are some of such names missing on the 47-man list:
FESTUS KEYAMO
Former Minister of State for Labour and Employment was the spokesperson of the Tinubu-Shettima Campaign Organisation. The senior lawyer was on the forefront during and after the campaign. However, Keyamo triggered a storm with a position he adopted on the MINISTER OF STATE towards the end of ex-President Muhammadu Buhar’s tenure.
While giving a valedictory speech at the presidential villa, Keyamo had said raising such issue did not mean he was ungrateful, but showed he was attempting to solve an anomaly that has existed for a long time.
“Mr President, the concept or designation of minister of state is a constitutional aberration and is practically not working for many so appointed,” Keyamo had said. While some had said Keyamo was laying foundation for a bigger office, Tinubu decided to cede the Delta slot to Stella Okotete.
KAYODE FAYEMI
Two-term governor of Ekiti, Fayemi served as Minister of Solid Minerals in the first term of Buhari. He had resigned to complete another term as governor, having earlier lost his reelection to ex-Governor Ayo Fayose, who like Fayemi is a two term governor who initially lost reelection.
Fayemi was among the aspirants that stepped down for the then National Leader and eventual winner of the 2023 presidential election. But while Abubakar Badaru, former Jigawa governor, David Umahi, former Ebonyi Governor, and Uju Kennedy Ohaneye, the lone female aspirant in the APC Presidential race, stepped down for President and made the list, Fayemi’s name is conspicuously missing. So string were the speculations that he would be a cabinet member that some persons said the foreign ministry portfolio had been assigned to him.
FEMI FANI-KAYODE
Foe turned friend of Tinubu, Fani-Kayode was among those whom some persons said had been listed for ministerial appointments. He had defected to the APC long before the elections and was even among the spokespersons of the APC Presidential Campaign Council. Although the vile language and insults that the man with a short fuse hurled at Tinubu when he was still on the other side of the divide became a major topic during the campaign, Fani-Kayode did not yield ground or get distracted.
BAYO ONANUGA
When Tinubu appointed his media team and the name of Onanuga, Director Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, was not there, some people said perhaps something higher reserved for him. The former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) was very visible during the campaign. He was never shy of defending the president.
BEN AYADE
Twice elected governor under the People Democratic Party (PDP), Ayade defected to the ruling APC at the height of his disagreement with his former party leaders. The rift was so serious then that Ayade traded words with ex-Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers, who accused him of betraying the PDP. Wike and Ayade who served as governors of South South states share many things in common, would have been ministers under the same government but Tinubu settled for Beta Edu, Ayade’s former Commissioner.
The former governor had lost his senatorial election and probably eyeing a seat in the cabinet.
Dimeji Bankole, Iyiola Omisore, James Faleke, Abdulrahman Dambazzau, Abdullahi ganduje, were among some key names mentioned before the list was unveiled.
