I didn’t know most of my ministers in 2015 – Buhari

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said he did not know the majority of persons that were ministers during his first tenure in 2015.

“The last cabinet which I had, most of them, a majority of them I didn’t know,” Buhari told members of National Assembly during a visit to Aso Rock Thursday evening.

President Buhari, who did not announce members of his cabinet until six months after he was sworn in, said he had no prior knowledge of his minister’s abilities and capabilities.

Instead, the President said he only relied on his party- All Progressives Congress (APC) to hand him a list of persons to be appointed as ministers from 2015 till 2019.

“I had to accept their names and recommendation from the party. I worked with them for three and a half years,” Buhari said.

Similarly to 2015, Nigeria President has found himself under ‘tremendous pressure’ to announce names of ministerial appointees in his second term.

He, however, said the basis for appointing ministers will be different from 2015 as only people he knows will serve as cabinet members.

“But, this time around I’m going to be quite me; me in the sense that I will pick people I personally know,” Buhari said.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan, who spoke to State House correspondents after the meeting, refuted media reports quoting him as saying that President Buhari would submit the ministerial list to the Senate this week.

“Let me take the opportunity to correct that. A senator raised a point of order under personal explanation,” Lawan said.

“He said we should be sent the list of the ministers by the executive arm of government and in my response, I said the executive is working so hard to ensure that the list of Nigerians that will help this administration work is going to be transmitted and we could even receive it this week.

“We could’ is conditional and I will urge everybody here to report it as it is,” he said.