Jide Ajani, Leke Adeseri, Emmanuel Aziken, Leon Usigbe and Olasunkanmi Akoni
31 October 2008
The list of ministerial nominees to replace the 20 who were dropped on Wednesday is expected to be forwarded to the Senate next week, Vanguard gathered last night.
However, anxiety enveloped the Senate yesterday as members awaited the list which many had expected would reach here yesterday.
The Senate is empowered by the constitution to screen such nominees.
Lobbying for the plum jobs intensified across the country at press time.
Mr. Felix Hyat, until Wednesday, Minister of State for Transportation (Aviation), said yesterday he had no misgivings leaving the cabinet, saying every call to high office was itself transient.
Former Minister of Solid Minerals, Chief Sarafa Ishola, who was outside the country on official assignment when he was dropped said he remained "proud that I served in a robust and selfless Federal Executive Council."
It was gathered that the Presidency was still making contacts and/or making checks on the credentials of possible nominees.
Senate sources said last night that the list was yet to come although the Presidency had promised to send the list of the nominees yesterday afternoon.
Expressing anxiety on the calibre and capacity of the nominees to be proposed, Senators contacted spoke of their determination to quiz the nominees thoroughly to ensure that round pegs are put in round holes.
"We will ensure that this time square pegs are put in square holes," Senator James Manager told Vanguard yesterday.
Hard time awaits nominees in Senate
An indication of the hard time awaiting the nominees was earlier given by Senator Jibril Aminu, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, when he said the Senate was dropping its bow and go policy for former members of the National Assembly and some respected elder-statesmen.
"Senate is getting no credit for doing that at all and they (nominees) are taking it for granted," Senator Aminu said at the commencement of the screening of ambassadorial nominees on Wednesday.
"One of our colleagues in the House of Representatives is here and if we don't give him the kind of allowance he thinks he should get he should forgive us. We are not responsible," he said in reference to Alhaji Ibrahim Zailani, a former member of the House of Representatives who was one of the ambassadorial nominees.
The bow and go policy had in the past been seriously criticised by the public.
Speaking to newsmen a day after he exited the federal cabinet, Mr. Hyat appreciated the call on him by President Yar'Adua to serve and the support received from the Kaduna State government and people during his time in the federal cabinet.
Hyat thanks Yar'Adua
Hyat prayed God for health and wisdom for President Yar'Adua to enable him lead the country towards the appropriate direction.
"When something like this comes, many people are likely to feel bad. But the truth is that in life, every office is transient, you will come and you will go," Hyat said, adding: "One of the most important responsibilities for me as a Nigerian is to give the government of the country complete support, to pray for wisdom, knowledge and good health for Mr. President and to enjoin all to join hands with him to move this country forward."
Affirming that there was nothing unusual in the cabinet reshuffle, he said: "Nobody should feel that it is something personal. The act of governance involves changes of this nature and when it comes, one has to take it in good faith and this is what I have done."
Expressing his thanks to the President he said: "I want to assure you that I received this information with complete submission to God and I thank God, I thank the president, I thank my governor, I thank the people of Kaduna State and Nigeria in general, I thank the aviation community for the support that they gave me in the last one year when I headed the industry."
I remain proud -Sarafa Isola
And in a terse statement the former Minister of Solid Minerals, Chief Sarafa Ishola praised President Yar'Adua for the opportunity to serve in the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
He said: "I wish to express my profound gratitude to Mr. President, Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua, for the wonderful opportunity given me to serve our beloved country as the Minister of Mines and Steel Development.
"Although I was away on official assignment in Seoul, South Korea, when the cabinet change was effected, I remain proud that I served in a robust and selfless Federal Executive Council.
"May Allah grant the President good health, strength and the wisdom to plot the ship of the state to its deserved destination."
Vanguard gathered that before the dissolution of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday, President Yar'Adua had told his ministers why some of them were being dropped.
Why 20 were dropped
He told the FEC that 20 of its members were to be dropped, and that the action was based on competence, loyalty and local politics.
Members of the FEC had expected that upon his return from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, especially after the removal of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, the next round of sacking would involve members of the FEC.
Vanguard was told that "President Yar'Adua thanked members on behalf of himself and the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and told the members that what was about to happen was inevitable.
"Mr. President thanked members profusely but said it was inevitable for some of them to be dropped," sources said.
"He then went ahead to explain to them, in a rather humble but unusual manner, that the factors of competence, loyalty and local politics have come to play and, therefore, he was left with no option but to relieve some of them of their duties."
Sources said the removal of Senator Sanusi Daggash (National Planning) was most shocking. He is said to be a victim of the local politics in his native Borno State.
Vanguard was told that his visibility and increasing profile had become a source of worry to some otherwise senior members of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. Coming on the heels of this is the deal being negotiated between President Yar'Adua and the governor of the state, Alhaji Modu Sheriff.
Yar'Adua's govt taking Nigerians for a ride -AC
Meanwhile, Action Congress (AC) has described the manner of the recent cabinet reshuffle carried out by President Yar'Adua as proof that his administration was taking Nigerians for a ride.
The party, in a statement yesterday by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said in a situation where a government could sack 20 ministers at a go suggested that all along, other base considerations informed the choice of the ministers and their retention for a whole 18 months while the nation floundered in a most bizarre absence of governance.
His words: "AC calls on the Yar'Adua government to own up and either put up immediate measures to recover the grounds the country has lost through this deadwood government or resign to allow Nigeria to recover from the doldrums of the past nine years.
"While we believe that cabinet reshuffle is inevitable, especially with the poor and lacklustre performance of the Yar'Adua government in the last 18 months, we insist that sacking 20 ministers in a single cabinet reshuffle is tantamount to admitting that this government has irretrievably failed.
President Umaru Yar'adua (3r) flanked by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan (7l) and the Head of Service, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed (2r) while the National Security Adviser, Alhaji Seriki Mukhtar (2l); Youth Development Minister, Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi (l) and Former Minister of State for Education, Mr. Anthony Agada (r) watched with others during a group photograph shot after the last meeting of the Federal Executive Council before the President dropped 20 Ministers at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida
Above all, their recruitment speaks of the quality of government that appointed them in the first instance.
"The failure of the Yar'Adua government has become an embarrassing cross Nigerians have been bearing soon after the Olusegun Obasanjo government for eight years.
"At this critical stage of our nationhood, Nigerians demand a complete overhaul of governance, with a view to unloading the heavy cabal of free-loaders that prey on the resources that should improve the lots of the entirety of Nigerians."
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