Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari sent the much-awaited list of his ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and possible confirmation. The names that made it to the list generated mixed reactions from many Nigerians, with some scoring them below their hyped expectations.
Most of the people that criticized the list said some of the nominees cannot stand a simple test of integrity that the president has sworn to uphold, nor meet his standard for a cabinet of people that are unsoiled by corruption.
But a different concern is being raised in the camp of the powerful South-West politician and leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, bordering on whether or not the candidates and input of the party chieftain have been considered.
A source close to the politician said the former Lagos governor was unhappy about the list, because he was not given the opportunity to contribute to it, despite being promised to be carried along.
The Presidency, the source disclosed, had promised to consult Tinubu when drawing up a list of nominees for the South-West region, but later reneged and shut him out.
“He was very unhappy at the development, because he first saw the list on the day it was sent to Saraki (the Senate President),”the source said. “He got the copy of it while he was still waiting to be consulted,” the source added.
Four ministerial nominees (Babatunde Fashola, Adebayo Shittu, Kayode Fayemi and Mrs Femi Adetoun) represent the South-West in the list submitted by Buhari.
People close to the party said Fashola and Fayemi have not been on very good terms with Tinubu, since the duo fell out with their political godfather towards the end of their respective administrations in Lagos and Ekiti states.
Tinubu had played a prominent role that led to their emergence as governors in the two states.
The source, however, pointed out that the Presidency had realized its mistake and promised to consider the Asiwaju’s choice when drawing up the second ministerial list.
Insiders argued that the frosty relationship between Tinubu and Fayemi led to the latter’s defeat during the last Ekiti governorship election, while the same fate befell Fashola’s preferred candidate during the primaries in Lagos, when his candidate, the former Attorney General of Lagos State, Mr. Dapo Sasore, lost out to Tinubu’s anointed candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode.
The rift between the two grew wider in August, when Tinubu shunned the launch of three books on Fashola.
A Lagos-based associate of Tinubu said President Muhammadu Buhari’s success during the last presidential election had enlarged the gulf between these political sons and their godfather. Intervention by APC leaders has failed to restore the relationship to normal. Buhari’s open interest in Fashola and Fayemi created another dimension to the strained relationship between the two ex-governors and their boss, he revealed.
The associate explained that Tinubu’s candidates for ministerial appointment from Lagos were his former commissioners in the state, Mr. Wale Edun and Mr. Yemi Cadosso.
He said the name of Mr. Edun had been submitted to APC headquarters to be forwarded to the Presidency.
Rationale behind Buhari’s choices for the South-West
But other observers of Buhari’s administration claimed that some of the president’s actions in the South-West were determined by his quest to establish strong political followership and bolster his acceptance in the region.
According to the Northern Coordinator of the Merger Youth Political Organization, Mujahid Zaitawa, the need for Buhari to build a political base in the South-West was strengthened by the imbroglio that characterized the selection of his running mate, after he won the party’s primary in Lagos.
The coordinator noted that the party was bogged down for almost a week, trying to convince Tinubu to drop his ambition of being fielded as Buhari’s running mate, a bid that could have caused the party a very sound defeat.
“After abandoning his position, Tinubu single-handedly picked Professor Yemi Osinbajo, his former Commissioner for Justice, for the ‘No. 2’position,” he stated.
The youth leader said Buhari was, therefore, expanding his influence in the South-West in order not to allow powerful individuals to dictate to him. “In an effort to whittle down the influence of Tinubu, he reached out to Obasanjo and sent him on an important international assignment. Barring any changes, Obasanjo’s candidates will feature in Buhari’s second ministerial list. He is doing all these to revive Obasanjo to the level of a powerful political horse that can counter Tinubu in parts of the South-West.
“Similarly, Buhari has nominated Fashola and Fayemi, two former loyalists of Tinubu, as ministers. If they finally get appointed, they are expected to be the glue that would connect Buhari firmly with the people of Lagos and Ekiti. They will also check the powers of Tinubu.
“Lastly, the president went to Oyo State and picked his diehard supporter, Adebayo Shittu, for ministerial appointment also with the aim of using him to penetrate the politically sagacious state.”
Some APC stalwarts, however, believe that Tinubu’s political influence in the South-West, as things are presently, cannot be seriously disturbed by a combination of all the listed factors.
“Tinubu and Fashola may have issues to settle personally, but sending the latter’s name to the Senate by Buhari does not ruffle Asiwaju, believe me,” a diehard Tinubu loyalist said. “Even if Fashola continues the way he has been behaving to Asiwaju in the past and eventually becomes a minister, that will not disturb Asiwaju.
“It doesn’t mean anything to him, because Asiwaju is not struggling to be a minister. Emergence of Fashola or Fayemi on the list of ministerial nominees sent to the Senate by the Presidency does not erode Asiwaju’s influence in APC as a party, neither does it erode his power as a grassroots politician. The issue is, who holds the power at the grassroots holds the ace,” he said.
A ranking senator, with close ties to both Tinubu and Buhari, told Daily Trust on Sunday that even if the said plot turn out to be true, “Tinubu will still remain powerful in the political arena of South-West and by extension in the country regardless of what is happening now.”
“This is because of two reasons. One, aside from Buhari, who is next in APC? Whether you like it or not, the person is Asiwaju. His influence in the party is superb. Two, who installed Akinwunmi Ambode in Lagos? We all know it is Asiwaju. So even if they push him out, he still has Lagos in his control and you cannot underestimate the importance of Lagos in the country’s politics,” the senator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
However, political watchers are of the opinion that sidelining Tinubu in the core activities of the APC could damage the party’s future in the South-West and probably disrupt the merger that brought together the North and the South-West into an alliance that upstaged a ruling party.
They argued that Tinubu is a political giant, with a large army of loyalists across the South-West that are capable of truncating any political ambition that does not enjoy his support in the region.
Prefessor Dahiru Yahaya of Bayero University Kano (BUK) believes that the political alliance between the North and South-West region will remain intact despite the alleged sidelining of Tinubu in the ministerial list.
Prof Yahaya said the difference between the votes polled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the APC in the South-West was not much, hence Tinubu will not make any attempt to spoil the alliance in the subsequent elections. “After all, Tinubu is a gentleman who has been looking for a political alliance with northern politicians for a very long time and I am sure he will continue to remain with them. No one can succeed in politics in this country without the support of the North. So I am confident that Tinubu will solidly remain with northern politicians.
“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said it all when he said ‘you should fear the North’. That is to tell you that you cannot be somebody in politics without the support of northern politicians, because politics is all about people and the North has the majority in this regard,” he said.
He added that if people are talking about the 2019 general elections, there was still time, saying “in politics seven days is precious time not to talk of four years. So we still have time.”
South-West APC chieftains afraid of congratulating nominees
In Lagos, where Fashola was governor for eight years, until May 29 this year, party chieftains have shied away from openly congratulating him for his nomination, afraid they may spite Tinubu.
The bigwigs, many of whom are loyal to Tinubu, are being cautious about issuing congratulatory messages to the immediate past governor, aware of the lingering cold war between him and his estranged godfather, it was gathered.
”We are not too sure of what Asiwaju’s position is on the appointment of Fashola. For many of us, we believe it would be better to err on the side of caution,” a party chieftain who will not want his name mentioned, confided.
He noted that the state party machinery, which is in the firm grip of Tinubu, had also had to carry on as if nothing has happened, just to confirm that Fashola may not actually be enjoying home-based support, which ordinarily could have boosted his morale and his chances of confirmation by the Senate.
The party source was, however, quick to dismiss the thought that the three senators from the state might not give their support to Fashola anytime he appears before the Senate for confirmation of his appointment.
“No, I don’t see any of them coming to the open like submitting a petition against Fashola’s nomination. Of course, we know that the new governor, National and state Assembly members who won on the platform of APC in the last elections all have their allegiance to the national leader. But to say that the lawmakers will openly antagonize him, I don’t see that happening,” the source said.
Many had insinuated that the uproar that greeted some projects embarked upon by Fashola’s administration, which bordered on ontracts inflation, was actually instigated to present the former governor as failing in the much-touted integrity test.
The media, in the last few days, were awash with allegations on how Fashola, while still in office as a governor, expended N78 million on the construction of a personal website and N139 million on two boreholes in Government House, Marina, Lagos.
Though Tinubu himself had actually come out to deny being the initiator of the negative stories trailing Fashola’s administration in the state, not a few still believe there is no love lost between the two former governors.
All is well between them
Other politicians close to Tinubu claimed that the list of ministerial nominees sent to the Senate by the Presidency did not come to the party leader as a surprise. According to them, the relationship between Asiwaju and the two former governors was not as it was being incorrectly depicted.
“It is not true that Fashola, Fayemi and other nominees from the South-West are not in good relationship with Asiwaju because all the nominees, except Barrister Adebayo Shittu, who was the governorship candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), are Tinubu’s creation,” said the senator who doesn’t want us to quote his name.
“For instance, I saw Fayemi in Tinubu’s residence in Abuja days after he was nominated. If there is a dispute between them, would he be there? It was Tinubu that brought Fayemi from abroad and made him Ekiti State governor. Their relationship has been intact all along,” he said.
On Fashola, the senator said from his interactions with both of them, there is no feud between them. “All these are creations of enemies of APC and Tinubu who want to cause division in the party. I have been with Tinubu for decades and I know how their relationship is since when Fashola was Chief of Staff. So there is nothing like that, “he said.
Dr Fayemi, checks revealed, had personally visited Tinubu’s home after it dawned on him that Buhari wanted him to be part of his cabinet and ensured he settled the misunderstanding between him and Asiwaju.
A dependable source close to Fashola told Daily Trust on Sunday that the former governor listened to the advice of some elders to ‘make up’ with Tinubu, which he reluctantly did.
Our source also said the issue of Fashola was dragged for quite some time between President Buhari and Tinubu, because the president had insisted on including Fashola in the new government. The issue, according to the source, was resolved after Fashola bowed down for his boss.
The Asiwaju supporter argued that the APC contributed immensely to the making of the ministerial list, adding that the party submitted names to the Presidency, but Buhari chose those he would prefer to work with.
“Tinubu didn’t complain because what Nigerians forget to understand is that this is the first batch of the ministerial list released. Let people wait and see the final list even if it is going to be released in three batches or more. People should not jump the gun.
“That Fashola’s name appeared on the ministerial list does not create any bad blood as some people have been made to believe. The important thing is for him to make more friends within the APC and be careful not to rubbish those who matter most in the party, as he did when he was the governor of Lagos State. If he scaled through the Senate screening, he has to repackage himself and be mature in handling issues. He is to start operating now on national level. If he repackages himself and use the opportunity that has opened for him to make more friends, that will be better for him.
“However, if Fashola now becomes a minister and believes he has arrived or he is more popular than his boss, he should know a similar case came up when late Gen. Sani Abacha invited some members of old Afenifere to be part of the Federal Executive Council.
“We all recall that a similar case happened during Abacha’s regime when a former civilian governor, who claimed to be an Awoist, took an appointment under Abacha. He was made Minister of Works. But when he was told to leave the government by the Afenifere leader, he refused and people can still recollect that he became a rejected politician in the whole of South-West.”
Attempts to speak to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to get his reaction to the ministerial list submitted to the Senate by the Presidency did not yield the desired results. Several calls to his number were not picked.
Similarly, Tinubu’s media aide, Mr. Sunday Dare, could not be reached despite the repeated calls to his mobile phone and he did not respond to the SMS message sent to him.
But reacting to the partial ministerial list released by the Presidency, APC’s National Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) described it as excellent. “I commend my President for the choice,” he said.
Also, the Publicity Secretary of the Lagos State chapter of the APC, Joe Igbokwe, denied any claims of malice against the appointment, saying the party is quite abreast of the fact that Fashola is a brand who does not necessarily need to be publicized on the pages of newspapers.
“For me, his appointment is one of the best by the president. He will surely add value to the president’s administration. We have not issued any statement because we already know him to be a good product that does not need placing congratulatory messages on on the pages of newspapers,” Igbokwe said.
Another chieftain of the party who also speak on condition of anonymity, said, regardless of the intra-political wrangling in the state chapter of the APC, the personality of Fashola is one that cannot be rubbished as he remains one of the brightest stars of APC across the “Regardless of what anybody might say or think, regardless of the politics, one thing we cannot take away is the fact that Fashola is a first among equals. He is a shining star of our party. He leads while others follow. I’m not concerned about the politics. The truth has to be said regardless of politics,” the party chieftain said.
A source at the APC national secretariat in Abuja said the president found it difficult to ignore the role played by some of these nominees during the campaigns, noting that the emergence of nominees from states like Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos, among others, would not have been possible if he (Mr President) had succumbed to the pressure from some of the influential party leaders who had alternative candidates.
“Good men don’t forget favours. That is the hallmark of a good man. The big men wanted to sit on it (ministerial nomination). But he (Mr President) resisted. That is what happened in Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo among others,” the source added.
Meanwhile, when our reporter sent a text message to Mallam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the president, to comment on the issues, he sent this reply: “I am in Lagos rushing to get a flight to Kaduna.”influence in the South-West in order not to allow powerful individuals to dictate to him. “In an effort to whittle down the influence of Tinubu, he reached out to Obasanjo and sent him on an important international assignment. Barring any changes, Obasanjo’s candidates will feature in Buhari’s second ministerial list. He is doing all these to revive Obasanjo to the level of a powerful political horse that can counter Tinubu in parts of the South-West.
“Similarly, Buhari has nominated Fashola and Fayemi, two former loyalists of Tinubu, as ministers. If they finally get appointed, they are expected to be the glue that would connect Buhari firmly with the people of Lagos and Ekiti. They will also check the powers of Tinubu.
“Lastly, the president went to Oyo State and picked his diehard supporter, Adebayo Shittu, for ministerial appointment also with the aim of using him to penetrate the politically sagacious state.”
Some APC stalwarts, however, believe that Tinubu’s political influence in the South-West, as things are presently, cannot be seriously disturbed by a combination of all the listed factors.
“Tinubu and Fashola may have issues to settle personally, but sending the latter’s name to the Senate by Buhari does not ruffle Asiwaju, believe me,” a diehard Tinubu loyalist said. “Even if Fashola continues the way he has been behaving to Asiwaju in the past and eventually becomes a minister, that will not disturb Asiwaju.
“It doesn’t mean anything to him, because Asiwaju is not struggling to be a minister. Emergence of Fashola or Fayemi on the list of ministerial nominees sent to the Senate by the Presidency does not erode Asiwaju’s influence in APC as a party, neither does it erode his power as a grassroots politician. The issue is, who holds the power at the grassroots holds the ace,” he said.
A ranking senator, with close ties to both Tinubu and Buhari, told Daily Trust on Sunday that even if the said plot turn out to be true, “Tinubu will still remain powerful in the political arena of South-West and by extension in the country regardless of what is happening now.”
“This is because of two reasons. One, aside from Buhari, who is next in APC? Whether you like it or not, the person is Asiwaju. His influence in the party is superb. Two, who installed Akinwunmi Ambode in Lagos? We all know it is Asiwaju. So even if they push him out, he still has Lagos in his control and you cannot underestimate the importance of Lagos in the country’s politics,” the senator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
However, political watchers are of the opinion that sidelining Tinubu in the core activities of the APC could damage the party’s future in the South-West and probably disrupt the merger that brought together the North and the South-West into an alliance that upstaged a ruling party.
They argued that Tinubu is a political giant, with a large army of loyalists across the South-West that are capable of truncating any political ambition that does not enjoy his support in the region.
Prefessor Dahiru Yahaya of Bayero University Kano (BUK) believes that the political alliance between the North and South-West region will remain intact despite the alleged sidelining of Tinubu in the ministerial list.
Prof Yahaya said the difference between the votes polled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the APC in the South-West was not much, hence Tinubu will not make any attempt to spoil the alliance in the subsequent elections. “After all, Tinubu is a gentleman who has been looking for a political alliance with northern politicians for a very long time and I am sure he will continue to remain with them. No one can succeed in politics in this country without the support of the North. So I am confident that Tinubu will solidly remain with northern politicians.
“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said it all when he said ‘you should fear the North’. That is to tell you that you cannot be somebody in politics without the support of northern politicians, because politics is all about people and the North has the majority in this regard,” he said.
He added that if people are talking about the 2019 general elections, there was still time, saying “in politics seven days is precious time not to talk of four years. So we still have time.”
South-West APC chieftains afraid of congratulating nominees
In Lagos, where Fashola was governor for eight years, until May 29 this year, party chieftains have shied away from openly congratulating him for his nomination, afraid they may spite Tinubu.
The bigwigs, many of whom are loyal to Tinubu, are being cautious about issuing congratulatory messages to the immediate past governor, aware of the lingering cold war between him and his estranged godfather, it was gathered.
”We are not too sure of what Asiwaju’s position is on the appointment of Fashola. For many of us, we believe it would be better to err on the side of caution,” a party chieftain who will not want his name mentioned, confided.
He noted that the state party machinery, which is in the firm grip of Tinubu, had also had to carry on as if nothing has happened, just to confirm that Fashola may not actually be enjoying home-based support, which ordinarily could have boosted his morale and his chances of confirmation by the Senate.
The party source was, however, quick to dismiss the thought that the three senators from the state might not give their support to Fashola anytime he appears before the Senate for confirmation of his appointment.
“No, I don’t see any of them coming to the open like submitting a petition against Fashola’s nomination. Of course, we know that the new governor, National and state Assembly members who won on the platform of APC in the last elections all have their allegiance to the national leader. But to say that the lawmakers will openly antagonize him, I don’t see that happening,” the source said.
Many had insinuated that the uproar that greeted some projects embarked upon by Fashola’s administration, which bordered on ontracts inflation, was actually instigated to present the former governor as failing in the much-touted integrity test.
The media, in the last few days, were awash with allegations on how Fashola, while still in office as a governor, expended N78 million on the construction of a personal website and N139 million on two boreholes in Government House, Marina, Lagos.
Though Tinubu himself had actually come out to deny being the initiator of the negative stories trailing Fashola’s administration in the state, not a few still believe there is no love lost between the two former governors.
All is well between them
Other politicians close to Tinubu claimed that the list of ministerial nominees sent to the Senate by the Presidency did not come to the party leader as a surprise. According to them, the relationship between Asiwaju and the two former governors was not as it was being incorrectly depicted.
“It is not true that Fashola, Fayemi and other nominees from the South-West are not in good relationship with Asiwaju because all the nominees, except Barrister Adebayo Shittu, who was the governorship candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), are Tinubu’s creation,” said the senator who doesn’t want us to quote his name.
“For instance, I saw Fayemi in Tinubu’s residence in Abuja days after he was nominated. If there is a dispute between them, would he be there? It was Tinubu that brought Fayemi from abroad and made him Ekiti State governor. Their relationship has been intact all along,” he said.
On Fashola, the senator said from his interactions with both of them, there is no feud between them. “All these are creations of enemies of APC and Tinubu who want to cause division in the party. I have been with Tinubu for decades and I know how their relationship is since when Fashola was Chief of Staff. So there is nothing like that, “he said.
Dr Fayemi, checks revealed, had personally visited Tinubu’s home after it dawned on him that Buhari wanted him to be part of his cabinet and ensured he settled the misunderstanding between him and Asiwaju.
A dependable source close to Fashola told Daily Trust on Sunday that the former governor listened to the advice of some elders to ‘make up’ with Tinubu, which he reluctantly did.
Our source also said the issue of Fashola was dragged for quite some time between President Buhari and Tinubu, because the president had insisted on including Fashola in the new government. The issue, according to the source, was resolved after Fashola bowed down for his boss.
The Asiwaju supporter argued that the APC contributed immensely to the making of the ministerial list, adding that the party submitted names to the Presidency, but Buhari chose those he would prefer to work with.
“Tinubu didn’t complain because what Nigerians forget to understand is that this is the first batch of the ministerial list released. Let people wait and see the final list even if it is going to be released in three batches or more. People should not jump the gun.
“That Fashola’s name appeared on the ministerial list does not create any bad blood as some people have been made to believe. The important thing is for him to make more friends within the APC and be careful not to rubbish those who matter most in the party, as he did when he was the governor of Lagos State. If he scaled through the Senate screening, he has to repackage himself and be mature in handling issues. He is to start operating now on national level. If he repackages himself and use the opportunity that has opened for him to make more friends, that will be better for him.
“However, if Fashola now becomes a minister and believes he has arrived or he is more popular than his boss, he should know a similar case came up when late Gen. Sani Abacha invited some members of old Afenifere to be part of the Federal Executive Council.
“We all recall that a similar case happened during Abacha’s regime when a former civilian governor, who claimed to be an Awoist, took an appointment under Abacha. He was made Minister of Works. But when he was told to leave the government by the Afenifere leader, he refused and people can still recollect that he became a rejected politician in the whole of South-West.”
Attempts to speak to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to get his reaction to the ministerial list submitted to the Senate by the Presidency did not yield the desired results. Several calls to his number were not picked.
Similarly, Tinubu’s media aide, Mr. Sunday Dare, could not be reached despite the repeated calls to his mobile phone and he did not respond to the SMS message sent to him.
But reacting to the partial ministerial list released by the Presidency, APC’s National Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) described it as excellent. “I commend my President for the choice,” he said.
Also, the Publicity Secretary of the Lagos State chapter of the APC, Joe Igbokwe, denied any claims of malice against the appointment, saying the party is quite abreast of the fact that Fashola is a brand who does not necessarily need to be publicized on the pages of newspapers.
“For me, his appointment is one of the best by the president. He will surely add value to the president’s administration. We have not issued any statement because we already know him to be a good product that does not need placing congratulatory messages on on the pages of newspapers,” Igbokwe said.
Another chieftain of the party who also speak on condition of anonymity, said, regardless of the intra-political wrangling in the state chapter of the APC, the personality of Fashola is one that cannot be rubbished as he remains one of the brightest stars of APC across the “Regardless of what anybody might say or think, regardless of the politics, one thing we cannot take away is the fact that Fashola is a first among equals. He is a shining star of our party. He leads while others follow. I’m not concerned about the politics. The truth has to be said regardless of politics,” the party chieftain said.
A source at the APC national secretariat in Abuja said the president found it difficult to ignore the role played by some of these nominees during the campaigns, noting that the emergence of nominees from states like Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos, among others, would not have been possible if he (Mr President) had succumbed to the pressure from some of the influential party leaders who had alternative candidates.
“Good men don’t forget favours. That is the hallmark of a good man. The big men wanted to sit on it (ministerial nomination). But he (Mr President) resisted. That is what happened in Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo among others,” the source added.
Meanwhile, when our reporter sent a text message to Mallam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the president, to comment on the issues, he sent this reply: “I am in Lagos rushing to get a flight to Kaduna.”
