The Buhari Hotlist & Other Musings (2)
NTA & Channels relayed the Ministerial Screening LIVE and that was great except that NTA had bad sound quality but did Nigerians the favor of educating us on what the names of each Senator who rose to speak. Channels TV on the other hand gave us crisp pictures and sound but only showed us the names of the Nominees. Truly one man’s meat…….
No Abike? Booohoohooo!
One of the speculated names touted in headlines prior to the release of the Ministerial List that greatly excited me was that of Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa then representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency & former House Committee chair on Diaspora. Most people would recall Abike from the NTA days, just after the great Frank Olize left and she took over; way back when Newsline was Newsline. She indeed was a pleasant face to look out for on Sunday Nights and I rarely recall noticing her on any other programme then on the NTA. When her name was ballyhooed to join the Change Cabinet, I was overjoyed. But after the release of the first and second lists and no mention of Abike, the wind was literally knocked out of my sails because I was seriously thinking she would bring color to the Ministry of Information which had lost its lustre since the days of Prof. Jerry Gana who by my standards was the best ever handler of that position. I pray Baba Lai isn’t penciled down for the Information portfolio….
No name from Obasanjo, YarAdua or Jonathan’s Cabinet
There was no former minister returned from any of the administrations of Obasanjo, Yar’Adua or Jonathan’s cabinet even though by my estimation, there were some performing ministers who actually performed effectively. Names like Professor Barth Nnaji, Mike Onolememen, Chukwuma Soludo, Olusegun Adeniyi, Charles Soludo, Onyebuchi Chukwu and the likes…. God knows Okonjo-Iweala’s name won’t even show up in the supplementary list in the President’s dream!
By the way, where is Dele Momodu?
With all the positive press, excessive hype and impressive writings the former Presidential Aspirant/Ovation publisher and deservingly celebrated THISDAY columnist has given President Buhari, I was of the impression that his name could not be far off from the list of Ministers in the Change Cabinet. Uncle Dele never seemed to know how to cover his dislike for the previous administration through his articles and public statements and that probably why he never got an exclusive at Aso Rock in the past 4 years! So here I am thinking the President would have rewarded Dele’s commitment with a seat on the Knights of Buhari’s Roundtable. Well, we the fans of Uncle Dele’s column on the back page of THISDAY Newspaper are content having his columns constantly unperturbed by the excesses of the demands of public office. Let him be.
No Questions please! Bow & Go!
As it has been since I got interested watching in Nigeria’s Ministerial Screenings, all former members of the Senate who have ever been nominated for a Ministerial post have never been asked a single question. All they have been told to do is Bow & Go! The same applied to Senator Udo Udoma, Senator Aisha Alhassan, Senator Chris Ngige and Lai Mohammed who isn’t and has never been a senator.
Chris Ngige, Chairman of Hypo!
..In walks Senator & former Anambra State Governor Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige who was a huge figure in the 7th Senate for his screening by Senators in the 8th Senate. After being introduced by the Senate President, we thought he would just say hello and a few sensible words and enjoy the Bow & Go treatment specially reserved for former members of the Red Chamber, but it seems Dr. Ngige had other ideas because no sooner than the mic was open, the ex-governor turned Senator turned Minister launched into a seemingly endless tirade on how it was his Molue Bus that brought in most of the senators into the present senate and how he helped to forge the 7th Senate and the brotherhood that existed among them during their time together and many more stories-for-the-gods. I joined many other watchers in sneering at him while he spoke because all through the time he ranted on and on, the late Michael Jackson’s Remember the Time played in my ears. Well, he has been confirmed as Minister and National Chairman of Hypo! Wash!!
The Visibility of the Staff - Abba Kyari
It’s only at the state level where the rest of us “common-folk” exist that’s where we hear of the majestic and immense might of the role and office of the Chief of Staff. We don’t know how influential the office is in Aso Rock bureaucratic setting, except for those who operate there, but at the level of the states, they are powerful indeed. The presentation of the lists 1 & 2 by the President to the Senate President brought into limelight and to the pages of the media; the face of the chief servant of the president’s inner sanctum, his top adviser and the one whose lips rest closest to the ears of the nation’s Number One citizen. I wonder who Jonathan’s delivery man was when the Ministerial lists of his administration were submitted to the then senate President David Mark.
Senate Minority Leader, Akpabio adds color
I share the sentiments of Dr. Kachikwu, Ministerial Nominee and substantive GMD of NNPC about our common fondness for the vitality of former Governor of Akwa-Ibom state and present Senate Minority Leader Godswill Obot Akpabio. He is a showman to the core, an orator par excellence! Anytime he stands to speak, as a governor or a senator, he is viewed with admiration and love, not just for the way he speaks, but for the manner he adds ginger and substance that will make any group of people venerate his personae. During the ministerial screenings, his questions elicited much laughter and light heartedness from his colleagues as well as the viewers like me. I strongly believe that he is a much more coherent version of our beloved Patrick Obiahagbon of the Green Chamber Days!
We all know Okonjo-Iweala’s replacement!
When the pretty and curvy Kemi Adeosun walked in to be screened by the Red Chamber Occupants, I was taken aback by her youth and how she was going to successfully outpace the eagle-eyed conglomeration of ex-governors, returning senators and die-hard politicians who run the senate and soundly convince them and Nigerians that she would not be just another flash in the pan minister who may just be dashed a Junior Minister position. But when she mentioned she was the Commissioner for Finance Ogun State, I was like…..ohhhhkayyyy! Then the polished British accent rolls in, and I wasn’t too moved by it (though amazed), but I was sufficiently impressed though that she was young (perhaps late 30s), Britain-bred and some governor still felt she was good enough to handle the finances of a state as economically buoyant as Ogun State. The thought made me appreciate some state governors who still have the sense to brave the odds, turn deaf ears to sentiments and pick someone untainted by public or Nigerian private sector bureaucracy and evidentlyqualified to run with him in his government. I’m sure she’s had enough rumors about being touted as being the Governor’s Girl by no-gooders. She should be used to it by now and be rest assured that nobody will call her the President’s Babe…that’s if and only if she wants to.
I wonder how she handled the civil service structure under her Ministry at the state level though… if the President sees farther than his glasses, then the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance should be handing her Ngozi’s notes.
Nnaji speaks!
You can imagine the shock when I heard the Senate President call on Senator Gilbert Nnaji representing Enugu East Senatorial District, Senator Gilbert Nnaji to ask a question. You can be sure that many residents from Enugu state would have turned attention to their screens immediately at the mention of his name. He? Senator Gil? Speaking? That was a pleasant surprise indeed for many of us watching the screening. I don’t think what he asked the Nominee meant much to me; only that he spoke…finally. I just hope he wasn’t forced into it because of the Election tribunal results that didn’t rule in his favor.
What’s with the “What’s your definition of Corruption” question?
I think it would have made a lot of sense for a good number of Senators at the screening to keep mum and watch happenings than raise their hands and ask some annoyingly silly endless-pit questions. With the manner in which hands were flying up recurrently, it seemed like the Senate had passed a law on No Contributions on the Floor, No Salary! Not less than 5 Senators asked the nominees about their thoughts/definitions for Corruption. And the nominees all brilliantly referred to the definition enshrined in the Nigerian Law. Come on guys! Think! That’s what we pay you for!
Ibe Kachikwu GMD NNPC/Oil Minister?
The former Exxon Mobil chief has only been in charge of the National Oil Company NNPC for upwards of 6 weeks and his name appears on the Ministerial List? We all believe the President will oversee the Oil Ministry, will Dr. Kachikwu deputize as Minister of State for Petroleum and also double as GMD of the NNPC? If that’s the case, then it makes sense to me even though workload may be seem much.
The Senate is full of Grand Old Folks!
I’m sure I am not the only one who was amused by Ministerial Nominee Sen. Aisha Alhassan’s expository statement about how many grandkids she has. In case she you didn’t hear what she said, she said she has 12 grandchildren in total. Jeez! I think it was at that point that I actually questioned the age bracket of our Distinguished Senators in the 8th Red Camber assemblage. From my findings, I discovered the youngest currently serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is 41 year-old Senator Isah Hamma Misau representing Bauchi Central under the APC while the Septuagenarian Senator Award goes to 74 year Senator Mohammed Shaaba Lafiagi of Kwara Senatorial District under the APC. 60% of the serving Senators are in their 60s, 30% are in their 50s and only 10% are in their 40s.
Is David Mark still around?
Can anyone tell me if former Senate President, David Bonaventure Mark (GCON) is still a member of the 8th Senate or what? I haven’t seen him anywhere. On the official INEC dossier of elected senators in the 2015 General Election, his name was listed among the three Senators from Benue State. It may also interest you to know that all 3 Senators from Benue State (Sen. George Akume (APC/Benue North), Senator. Barnabas Gemade (APC/Benue North-East) and Sen. David Mark (PDP/Benue North)) are all the same age – 66! LOL. While investigating further, I checked out the senate’s current website (which was last updated this month, 3 YEARS AGO) the former Senate Boss still had his name listed as the Senator representing Benue South. So where is Nigeria’s former No.3 man?
Kudos to @NGRSenate
They did well to update Nigerians on the blow-by-blow news bits on the Ministerial Screening process so much so that the hashtag Ministerial Screening trended widely on twitter. This is a good start to pushing positive stories about Nigeria to the world media since folks like CNN never have anything good to say about us.
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