PDP governorship primaries: 8 ministers may quit in weeks

This followed last week’s release of the PDP guidelines for primaries ahead of the 2015 general elections.
The guidelines require serving public office holders to quit by October 20 if they want to seek the ruling party’s nomination in the primaries scheduled to hold in November and December. This affects appointees like ministers and commissioners, as well as civil servants.
Ministers who may leave within the next one month to join the governorship races include Bala Mohammed (FCT), Labaran Maku (Information), Samuel Ortom (State for Trade & Investment), Nyesom Wike (State for Education), Kabiru Turaki (Special Duties), Musiliu Obanikoro (State for Defence), Bashir Yuguda (State for Finance) and Emeka Nwogu (Labour).
Mohammed from Bauchi, Maku from Nasarawa and Wike from Rivers are the most obvious governorship aspirants among serving ministers.
Each of them has been engaged in mobilisation of supporters ahead of the governorship primaries in their states. Their posters and billboards also adorn streets in towns and villages of their states, though none of them has publicly declared an intention to stand in the elections.
Ortom, who is planning to run for governor in Benue State, also has a campaign structure on ground though he has not publicly declared for the governorship race.
For his part, Barrister Turaki from Kebbi State had contested for governor in 2007 and 2011, once on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). He is believed to be still interested in the governorship of his state, where Governor Saidu Dakingari is in his second and final term.
Obanikoro had also run for governor in the past as he was the PDP candidate in Lagos State in 2007 election when he was defeated by Mr Babatunde Fashola who is serving out his second term. Obanikoro is now angling to take another shot in next year’s election.
Ambassador Yuguda from Zamfara State, which is controlled by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), is reportedly interested in unseating Governor Abdulaziz Yari in the February 2015 election.
Wogu is also reported to be interested in succeeding Abia State Governor Theodore Orji whose second term expires in May 2015.
Months before the PDP primaries guidelines, President Goodluck Jonathan had asked his aides and other political appointees eyeing elective positions to quit so as to face their elective ambitions.
His spokesman Reuben Abati said in February that the president had two weeks earlier “announced in council that if there was any member of the cabinet or any major political appointee who wants to pursue some other political roles…they should let him know; and if they see that they’re going to be really busy, and such activities may occupy their time extraordinarily, they should please step aside or come and see him for discussion.”
Abati announced this at the time of the removal of then Chief of Staff to the President Mike Oghiadomhe.
Two days later, erstwhile Ministers of Police Affairs, Niger Delta Affairs, Aviation and State for Finance left the cabinet because of what the Information Minister said was to pursue their “higher and deeper” political ambitions.
While some ministers had to go because of their political ambitions, others believed to be highly interested in contesting for governorship in their states have remained in the cabinet.
Daily Trust learnt that President Jonathan decided to allow them to remain behind because asking some of them to go would have portrayed wrong signals in their states.
This was said to be the case for Wike, who was engaging in public spat with Rivers Governor Romiti Amaechi. Removing him would have reduced PDP’s momentum towards challenging Amaechi who defected from the ruling PDP to the opposition APC, sources said.
With the release of PDP guidelines last week, the ministers with political ambitions are expected to start using the time from now to October 20 to clear their tables.
Sources in the government said some of the ministers with ambitions may still remain behind if they clearly foresee defeat in the November 29 primaries.
They will take the time till October 20 to study the political calculus in their states more closely and decide whether it would be worth taking the risk to leave their plum cabinet appointment for the primaries.