Ministerial list: Buhari submits 21 names: Fashola, Amaechi, Ngige, Onu, Aisha Alhassan, Fayemi, Malami Abubakar, Kachikwu make list

Against widespread expectations, President Muhammadu Buhari failed to submit the much-anticipated ministerial list to the senate until after lawmakers ended Tuesday’s plenary session.
But Senate President Bukola Saraki announced yesterday evening on his Facebook page that he eventually received the ministerial list from the Presidency at about 5PM Wednesday.
“About an hour ago, I received the list of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees from the Chief of Staff to Mr. President, Abba Kyari, and the Special Adviser to Mr. President on National Assembly (Senate) Sen. Ita Enang,” Mr. Saraki posted on Twitter at 6:06PM on Wednesday.

Sources said 21 names were contained in the list.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, in company with the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate),   Ita Enang, delivered the list in a sealed envelope to the Senate President in his office.

Saraki, who left the office around 5:30pm, later spoke to journalists through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu, explaining that the list would be read on the floor during plenary Tuesday next week.

“The Senate president received the ministerial list around 5:00pm this evening but no action would be taken on it until next week Tuesday. The envelope is still sealed,” Olaniyonu told journalists.

According to Punch former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola; and a former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, made the list.

Also said to be on the list are Kayode Fayemi, a former governor of Ekiti State; a former Governor of Anambra State, Chris Ngige; and a one-time Governor of Abia State, Ogbonaya Onu.

Malami Abubakar, SAN, a former National Legal Adviser to the defunct Congress for Progressives Change; Aisha Alhassan, a former governorship candidate of the APC in Taraba State; and Amina Mohammed, a special adviser to the Secretary-General of the United nations, Ban Ki-Moon, also made the ministerial list. Same for a former finance commissioner in Ogun State, Kunle Adeosun.

Curiously, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ibe Kachikwu, is said to be on the list, perhaps to combine his headship of the NNPC with junior petroleum minister. portfolio. Buhari has already announced himself as the substantive Minister of Petroleum.

The President had pledged that his ministerial nominees would be submitted to the Senate for screening and approval before the end of September thus raising fears on Wednesday that Buhari had failed to keep his promise to Nigerians.