THE ongoing screening of ministerial nominees by the 8th Senate has left Nigerians talking to the extent of its entertainment. It was obvious that the Senate wanted to pander to public expectation.

However, the enthusiasm and buoyancy elicited by the release of cabinet nominees belies the long wait caused by President Muhammadu Buhari’s reluctance. On its part, the Senate played with unexpected unity of purpose, even tending towards the hyper. Though the senators succeeded in screening 18 nominees, the number is not enough to inaugurate the Federal Executive Council (FEC). All indicators point to a possible November date; good five months after the president took his oath of office as President. The aspect of the ministerial selection is that which pertains to the internal schisms and frictions with the fold of the All Progressives Congress (APC) especially at the state chapters.

Despite the well-known aversion of President Muhammadu Buhari to the appointment of ministers, it has been gathered that selecting the 36 men that would assist him to deliver on the change mandate, was not an easy task for President Buhari. Sources within the APC disclosed how the president became bogged down by pressures from eminent party leaders and close allies that it was not easy to settle on who among the several lists on the president’s table that would make the final copy sent to the senate. “Forget what you read in the newspapers and social media, the recourse to sending the list of nominees in batches was actually to strike a balance between keeping the promise and satisfying the cravings of party leaders for slots,” the source said.

The source noted that some party chieftain actually used money to induce those close to the president to ensure their wards made the acceptable list. He hinted that the greatest pressure was on who should occupy which portfolio, adding that the president was able to come up with the first list mainly because most of the nominees were those who worked closely with him during the electioneering campaigns.

Investigation by The Guardian revealed that challenges of selecting cabinet nominees were more acute in Southeast and South/South geopolitical zones. Considerations of which zones would present the minister ranked highly more than the issue of merit and capacity. The president helped to reduce the search for capable hands when he made his legendary remark of reward and punishment. Consequently, most party chieftains began background checks on APC faithful trying to consider who was loyal, lukewarm or ambivalent. These considerations played in the following scenarios in the two geopolitical zones:

Anambra
THOUGH it is on record that Senator (Dr.) Chris Ngige remained the face of opposition in Anambra, shortly after APC won the presidential election, some politicians mobilized claiming that Ngige has stood sentry in the party and prevented others from joining. The sentiment that the former governor did not want to accommodate others just to ensure that he remains the rallying point of everything gained momentum, such that when words started making the rounds that Dr. Ogbonnia Onu may be made the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF); a delegation of some veteran Anambra politicians paid the former Abia State governor a courtesy call in his Asokoro home. Interestingly, after that visit, such names as Nkwo Nnabuchi, Pat Udoji and Sharon Ikeazor began to circulate as staunch loyalists of PMB. Ngige’s saving grace was that he led some notable Igbo leaders to congratulate GMB before his inauguration despite the mischaracterization of the delegation as representatives of Ohanaeze NdÍgbo.
Additionally, a prominent APC leader in the zone, out of the subtle rivalry between him and Ngige also helped to circulate the impression that after contesting the Anambra governorship and senatorial election, Ngige should allow others to gain in political experience and visibility. In the end, Ngige’s sagacity gave him victory as PMB was said to have acknowledged his contributions to the growth of opposition in Southeast and track record of achievements while in office as governor of Anambra.

Enugu
The challenge of getting a candidate for the ministerial slot of Enugu State was three fold. Mr. Okey Ezea, was the governorship candidate of APC in the state. Prior that 2015, he contested the position variously on the platform of Labour Party (LP). He was among those who flocked together in APC after the historical mega merger of political parties. Following the zoning of the governorship to Enugu North senatorial district, otherwise known as Nsukka cultural zone, attempts were made to persuade Ezea to step down for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. Ezea reportedly told Nsukka stakeholders that despite the fact that he belongs to a different political party, he has been contesting the Enugu governorship from the zone before Ugwuanyi, stressing that if Nsukka zone was desirous of going into the election with one candidate so as not to split their votes, it was Ugwuanyi that should step down for him. However, it would be recalled that shortly after the merger, the issue of who should fly the APC flag in the state came up. Stakeholders of the party acknowledged the zoning arrangement in the state and prevailed on Osita Okechukwu from Enugu West to shelve his ambition, especially against the background that exiting Governor Sullivan Chime, came from his zone. In 2011, Okechukwu contested the governorship election on the platform of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Being among Buhari’s loyal foot soldiers, Okechukwu shunned entreaties and inducements to run against Chime in 2011 governorship election.

All these calculations resurfaced when the issue of ministerial nomination came up. Ezea went down memory lane recalling that so far, Enugu West and Enugu East senatorial zones and not his Enugu North, have been producing ministers since 1999 when Nigeria regain the pathway of constitutional democracy. He was reminded that he should not refer to what obtained during PDP when talking about APC and that he neither joined the party from any of the legacy parties. The hullabaloo reached a crescendo when APC asked state chapters to send a shortlist of three possible candidates for appointment into the federal cabinet.

While the governorship candidate, zonal chairman and the zonal spokesman lined up to be counted among the three, a new tendency came up. Former Anambra governor, Senator Jim Nwobodo brought a comic side to the development when he summoned a meeting at Owerri to resolve the issue of possible ministers to emerge from the zone. While the lull in appointing the ministers happened, the bickering gradually abated. But after Buhari indicated that he would reward his long-term supporters, a lot of people looked in the direction of Okechukwu, given his closeness to PMB. Yet as names appeared on the second batch of nominees, what came from Enugu – Geoffrey Onyeama – was unknown to a great many, both within and outside the APC.

Currently all the parties in the wrangling have closed ranks by querying the modality of selecting an outsider, who they alleged, neither worked for the party nor waged opposition to PDP in the state all these years. Ironically Onyeama hails from the same community as Okechukwu. But apart from being a scion of the legendary Onyeama in Eke, the young man had only his association with the Chief of staff to the president, Alhaji Abba Kyari, his classmate in Cambridge to recommend him for ministerial appointment. Could this be PMB’s verdict on how he feels about APC members in Enugu? The last may not have been heard from the nomination.

Imo
THE case of ministerial nominee from Imo is currently jarring nerves. Governor Rochas Okorocha is being accused of influencing members of PMB’s kitchen cabinet to send in the name of his father-in-law, Prof. Anthony Anwuka for the state. APC stakeholders in Imo are angry with the governor for concentrating political patronage and appointment around his immediate family, saying such disposition does not help the cause of the party in the zone.

A source in the presidency revealed that though President Buhari regretted the last minute defection of such Imo politicians like former Governor Achike Udenwa and Chief Mike Ahamba, he was willing to bring the former chairman of National Population Commission (NPC). “It was when the plan got leaked in the media that Okorocha mobilized his contacts to ensure that the Prof. was included in the list,” the source disclosed adding that the last has not been heard about the ministerial lists and who would actually be appointed as minister. Already aggrieved APC stakeholders are threatening to send representation to President Buhari.

Their mission is said to intimate the president on why Prof. Anwuka was not acceptable to them and how the governor sidelined eminent stakeholders like Senator Osita Izunaso, the national organising secretary to settle for his father-in-law even when his direct son-in-law, Prof. Anwuka’s son, Uzoma, is the Chief of Staff, Government House, in Okorocha’s administration. As at the time the Senate adjourned screening to next Tuesday, the ministerial nominee for Imo had not been screened.

Ebonyi
BARELY weeks after President Buhari won the presidential election, former Abia State governor, Dr. Ogbonnia Onu, positioned himself to be the SGF. During an APC Southeast caucus meeting in Abuja, Governor Okorocha told Onu that if by any stroke of chance he missed becoming the SGF, he should forget about angling for any other position, adding that he should carry himself as a national leader of the party like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Okorocha also reminded the former Abia State governor that his aloofness does not add value to APC in the zone, wondering why he, (Onu) was not making as much noise as Tinubu, being a former governor. Onu was said to have criticized Igbo politicians who make financial contributions to outsiders while belittling their own brothers, adding that the division in Southeast APC was caused by those who want only their sons and daughters to occupy every available elective and appointive position.

In allusion to the missed SGF opportunity, Dr. Onu declared those who propped up their in-laws made Igbo lose what was due to them. As the wait for ministerial nominee for Ebonyi lasted, the rumour that Buhari was not disposed to appointing former governors and governorship candidates into his cabinet was dispelled when names like on Fashola, Ngige and Senator Aisha Al-Hassan appeared. As such the sentiments grew in Ebonyi that Senator Julius Ucha, who contested the governorship on the platform of APC may be given the slot as some APC faithful hinted that Dr. Onu may have been penciled for ambassadorial posting.

Further, some stakeholders in the zone felt that it would be belittling for a former presidential candidate and national chairman of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to accept a ministerial post. It was also suggested that hailing from the same community with incumbent Ebonyi governor, David Umahi, it may not make for divergence of opportunities for Dr. Onu to be appointed minister. Consequently Dr. Onu’s right hand man from Ebonyi North, Austin Igwe Edeze, was also touted as the possible nominee. But when come came to become, Dr. Onu’s name appeared on Buhari’s list. Yet some stakeholders are kicking that the appointment serves a personal economic purpose for the former chairman of ANPP than to advance the electoral cause of APC in the zone.

Abia
THE name, Ikechi Emenike, is synonymous with the opposition politics in Abia. Emenike contested the governorship election in the state in 2011 and to the chagrin of Abians, he lost to the PDP machinery. In 2015, following the merger that produced APC, Emenike allowed Anyim Nyerere to fly the party’s flag in the governorship election. Given the success of APC in the presidential election, many people in Abia looked up to Ikechi Emenike as a possible ministerial appointee. Apart from his political pedigree in Abia, Emenike is known as a long-term ally of President Buhari from their ANPP days. All that was what made the nomination of Okechukwu Enelamah a puzzle to both stakeholders and supporters of APC in the state. And like what happened in Enugu, it was gathered that Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Alhaji Abba Kyari, slotted in the name of Enelamah, his classmate at Cambridge. As things stand, this political good gesture to former classmates is pitting the Presidency against APC stakeholders. It is left to be seen how the party would separate the tangle.

Whether the nature of some of these appointments gives a picture of how the Buhari administration is being run, is too early to contemplate. Until the cabinet is inaugurated, it does not seem that the final word has been heard about President Buhari’s team!