Ministers: Nothing wrong with recycling ex-office holders- Adesina

Adesina

Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, was guest on Kakaaki, a program of Africa Independent Television (AIT) on Thursday, October 1.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

First of all, let’s look at the President’s October 1 broadcast. What do you make of it?

We must recognise that it is a National Day broadcast, and he started by reviewing the state of the polity, particularly our march towards nationhood 55 years after independence. Are we a nation yet? Are we just a conglomeration of ethnic nationalities? I think on a day like this, that is the most important thing, all the others are ancillary, though important. It was an efficient broadcast, it may be short but it touched a number of crucial issues.

One issue that has been generating lots of reactions is the ministerial list. The President did promise sometime in July that he was going to name his ministers in September. But what we saw was a submission of ministerial list to the National Assembly.

We also need to mind the process and the procedure; Our federal lawmakers would be the first people to kick if the President just reeled out the names of the ministers and their portfolios. That would not be in order. What he does is to nominate and send to the Senate and after clearance, the ministers begin to work. At any given time, procedure must be followed.

Part of the broadcast that a lot of people would have loved to hear more from the President is the issue of national unity and inclusiveness in running the affairs of state. It appears that the President did not dwell on that and a lot of people looking at Nigeria believe that national unity and inclusiveness appear to be quite elusive. One would have expected the President to reassure the country that Nigeria stays as one and this is what I am going to do so that everyone has a sense of belonging.

Well, let me read this paragraph if you will permit, the President says here, “We have all the attributes of a great nation, we are not there yet because the one commodity we have been unable to exploit to the fullness is the unity of purpose .This would have enabled us to achieve not only more orderly political evolution and integration, but also, continuity and economic progress. Countries far less endowed have made greater coherence and unity of purpose.” So, he touched on what you said.

Yes, he touched on it, but what I mean is that he should have dwelled on it, talking about Nigeria at 55.

You should also realize that he is President, and he should not be dwelling on just challenges, rather he should be working to achieve solutions , which is quite better.

There are some agitations that the President seems to favour some parts of the country, so the eagerness to see who and who will make the ministerial list…

He also said that order is better than speed. What Nigerians want in these appointments appears to be speed, so that they can calculate how many are from the North, South, East and West, and all that. But we will get there, that is what the President is saying.

 The President wants to manage the country’s resources and he didn’t make any statement about the economy or the real sector, why is this so?

I think we are forgetting that it is a National Day broadcast. It is about Nigeria, our people, the way we have lived together. What are the challenges and how are the challenges being surmounted? All those other things cannot necessarily come into a National Day broadcast, that is what I feel.

How long shall Nigerians wait for the President to say something on the economic direction?

The economic direction is not an opinion of one man but an aggregation of what a team feels and what they have agreed upon. That team is unfolding, we have a list of proposed ministers, that list has not been unfolded and when they are approved with their portfolios , they are the ones that will articulate the economic direction. What if the President as one man has said ,this is the direction and the team comes and feels different?

Not as one man, because he has said that he has been in consultation with the Vice President and some other individual concerning solutions to our problems . Based on that statement, Nigerians are expecting that …

 That would still not amount to an economic direction.

Let us talk about some things. It was reported that the President says that his relationship with the Senate president would depend on the outcome of the Code of Conduct trial. Could you confirm that ?

I was at a session in New York when the President was granting that interview to Sahara TV and he said the relationship between them is cordial. The interviewer asked if they communicate and he said , yes, many times. There were some appointments that he couldn’t have made without writing the Senate president. He was further asked what would be the relationship in the light of the code of conduct tribunal trial that is going on, and he said, “Yes, I have to wait for that process to end and that would determine the relationship,” which I think is just right.

Okay, I think that you need to break it down further, when he said that he needs to wait for the process before the relationship becomes cordial. Does it mean, it is not cordial right now?

There is separation of powers between the executive and legislature…

 The President and Senate president are from the same party and they need to have a very cordial working relationship for the President to succeed.

Is there an indication that the relationship is not cordial?

From the statement of the President that he is awaiting the outcome of the trial, it has pitched him on a particular level… it seems the President is saying that the Senate president should not come close to me pending when the trial is over, to know whether you are clean enough or not.

What the President meant was that he was not going to interfere in any way and the process must play out. He was emphatic about that and of course if the process finishes, whichever way it goes, it determines the relationship between the two individuals. For a government that pays high premium on transparency and accountability, it is very important that whoever is in a top decision must be seen to be accountable to the people.

 One would also ask if the President is conscious of the assumption of innocence until proven guilty.

In all he has said, there is nowhere that assumption has been breached, No way and nowhere that it has been breached. He says that the Senate president is innocent for now and when the process ends, they continue the relationship.

Okay now, let’s look at the ministerial list that was sent (September 30). We understand from what is in the news that just a few names were sent to the Senate, can you confirm this? And when would the rest be sent?

The President himself was clear about that, he said the first batch but nobody knows how many is in the batch

I am sure that you know…

(laughs) … No…No…, you know, you are a news person and you can’t depend on everything you hear. It has been addressed to the Senate president. The list is there, he will unfold it officially. Nobody can say precisely how many. You said a few; you can’t be sure because the Senate president has not unfolded it.

How many people are in the batch?

A: Well, it depends on the President. There are certain prerogatives that the President has. Ministers are one of them. He has said that this is the first batch, I think that we should wait and see who are those in the first batch and after that we know how many remains, because the constitution already states that there must be a minister in each of the states. We have 36 states in the country, so when the list is unfolded, we know how many remains.

 You have just returned from the United Nations General Assembly in New York, we heard that a lot of things happened there, like missing meetings that the President was supposed to attend.

Now, let me talk about the supposedly missed meeting. The truth is that, you don’t miss meetings that you are not scheduled to attend, That is just the truth. If you are not scheduled for a meeting, can you miss it? No.

Was Nigeria not scheduled for the meeting?

No, Nigeria was not scheduled to be at that meeting. That is the truth.

O’Brien of the UN was reported as saying that he was quite disappointed that Nigeria was not at that meeting.

A: We have a Permanent representative at the UN, Prof. Joy Ogwu. The invitations Nigeria received are seven pages in all. I have them. You won’t see that meeting in any of the invitations that we got. Nigeria was not invited to that meeting and not scheduled to be there. With the passion that our President has on the Boko Haram, do you think that he will receive an invitation to a meeting that will discuss that issue and he will not be there? The truth is that Nigeria was not invited. We have said it and even the President has said in an interview before leaving New York and I guess that should rest the matter. What is happening, as far as I am concerned is storm in a teacup. A lot of people just want to find faults unnecessarily. Nigeria was not invited to that meeting, if she had been invited , she would have been there.

Secondly, it was a meeting on Boko Haram and insurgency. There were two high levels meetings within the General Assembly days and Nigeria was at those meetings. It simply shows that she was not invited to the earlier one. Let me make this statement: it’s like Nigerians have been lied to so much that they find it difficult to now believe the truth. And the truth is that Nigeria was not invited to that meeting.

Even if the President was not invited, was the Nigerian delegation aware of that meeting?

A: How could the Nigerian delegation be aware, when it was not scheduled? I have told you that every meeting that Nigeria was scheduled to attend, I have the list here and that meeting was not there. Nigeria was not scheduled for the meeting.

What would have informed the President’s desire to want to become the Minister of Petroleum, when he is talking about reforming the NNPC, making it transparent? Does he not trust anyone or believe that there are capable people who can be trusted to manage this ministry properly?

I think the question, we will ask ourselves is: What would the President be bringing to the table, if he is going to supervise the petroleum ministry? He has been Minister of Petroleum about 32 years ago. That is a lot of experience. Those were years that things were done fairly properly in this country.

 A lot of people will say that things have changed over the years and lots of structures have also changed and those days may have gone….

But there are things that never change in life. These include integrity, transparency, truth and responsibility. Those things never change and those are the things the President would bring to bear.

 In the newspaper review this morning, it was reported that 21 names made the ministerial list. Now, based on the constitution, a minister must be selected from every state. So, if the President wants to supervise the ministry of petroleum resources, how will this work out eventually? Does this mean that a particular state will have two slots?

The constitutional requirement you quoted talks about the minimum , it states that there must be 36 number of ministers, at least one from each state. We have lived in this country where we had 46, 48 ministers and all that. That already shows you that 36 is the minimum requirement but this administration is one that wants to cut cost. We don’t expect that it would have a ballooned number of ministers.

What would you say to Nigerians out there, who think that perhaps if some institutions are working, talking of EFCC, ICPC and some other regulatory and enforcement agencies, we won’t be talking about recycling of ministers or minister of petroleum in the person of President Muhammadu Buhari.

What is wrong with recycling if that person has something he is bringing to the table? Recycling would be wrong if that person is adding no value. But if he is adding value, what is wrong with recycling? I tell you that this is one appointment, if you can call it so, that will bring a lot of value to that ministry.

 You said earlier that the President is bringing in honour, integrity, truth all those virtues into the ministry’s package. And the President has taken over three months to appoint ministers. I wonder, has he not found a Nigerian with all these qualities to run that office? We have seen in this country, where a former president oversaw this sector and there was not much difference.

Don’t forget that the buck stops at the President’s table. At the end of his administration, it is going to be called the Buhari administration and not the name of any minister. Therefore, it is very important that what the President feels would make a difference in the country is what he does. At the end of the day, that administration would be rated with his name and not any other name.

The last words from you Mr. Adesina before you go

Well, I will just like to say that Nigerians trusted this President, they elected him into office, let them continue to maintain that trust, and at the end of the day, they will not be disappointed.

PDP, Sylva trade words ahead of Bayelsa poll

… Sylva not electable – Party

… Dickson will soon be history – Ex-governor

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bayelsa State chapter, and the Campaign Organisation of Timipre Sylva, on Friday attacked each other verbally over the candidacy of the All Progressive Congress (APC) flag bearer for the December 5 governorship election.

Sylva, who emerged the APC candidate, will slug it out with the sole candidate of the PDP and incumbent state Governor, Seriake Dickson.

But the PDP said Sylva is not electable.

The state Secretary of PDP, Keku Godspower, in a statement in Yenagoa on Friday, said the emergence of Sylva was a shame and insult to the collective sensibilities of people of Bayelsa and APC members.

Keku said APC’s decision was an indication that it was not prepared for any serious outing in the election because “everybody in Bayelsa knows that Sylva is not electable.”

He, however, claimed that since Sylva’s emergence, there was palpable fear, tension and apprehension among people of Bayelsa following the violence that marred the recent APC primary in the state.

Keku also alleged that Sylva had a record of violence and that his second coming would not be different.

He alleged that since the primary, the state had witnessed the influx of cultists and militants.

He added that the development, if not checked, could lead to relapse of violence in the state and the entire Niger Delta region.

Keku, however, said he was confident that possible violence would be contained by security agencies, assuring the people that the state would deal with anyone caught breaching the peace or molesting anyone.

He advised Bayelsans to go about their lawful businesses without fear of intimidation, urging them to report any suspicious character to security agencies.

He asked the people to vote for PDP and also called on the Federal Government to direct its security agencies to take urgent steps to ensure the security of lives and property in the state.

But Sylva’s campaign organisation in a statement signed by Doifie Buokoribo, said the PDP was jittery because its candidate, Dickson, would soon become history.

He said: “We know the PDP game plan was to prevent the emergence of a strong and popular APC governorship candidate so that they can easily repeat their trademark shenanigan of aborting democratic competition and stealing victory without a contest.

“With that deception, they stole the mandate of the people in 2011, when both Chief Timipre Sylva and Mr. Ndutimi Alaibe were dubiously excluded just to give Hon. Henry Dickson victory without a real electoral contest.

“All the frenzied disparagement of Sylva now by PDP is an understandable manifestation of fear and frustration over their impending, indubitable defeat at the December 5 election. That frenzy is understandable. We will make Dickson history.”

Fear of attacks: Kwara cancels independence parade

Gov Ahmed

The Kwara State government yesterday cancelled the 55th independence anniversary parade scheduled to hold at the Metropolitan Square, Ilorin.

In a statement, the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Isiaka Gold, said the cancellation followed security reports that certain individuals arrived the state overnight to disrupt the Independence Day celebration.

He regretted any inconvenience the cancellation might cause, stressing that the government considered public safety paramount.

Despite the cancellation, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed said Nigeria had a lot to celebrate.

In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications to the Governor, Dr. Muyideen Akorede, Ahmed said he was optimistic that the country would overcome the economic, social and security problems.

He said: “My conviction is driven not by blind hope. My optimism is based on confidence in the indomitable Nigerian spirit, our limitless national endowments and our current leadership’s drive and capacity to positively change our country.

“However, we can only achieve these if we stand as one and defy the forces that threaten to divide us for selfish benefits. We must unite behind our collective aspirations for greatness, our desire for a better country and support our leadership at all levels to achieve them.”

MINISTERIAL LIST: Why Buhari holds on to 15 other nominees

There are feelers from the Presidency that the remaining 15 names of ministerial nominees will hit the Senate early next week after what sources described as ‘laborious’ security checks and vetting of the prospective nominees.

The high-wire tension and expectations with which Nigerians awaited President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees have been doused with his submission of names of 21 nominees to the Senate.

As of last night, the various security agencies were said to be working frantically to beat the new deadline said to have been given to them by the President.

Vanguard gathered that the security checks on the remaining nominees are being carried out within and outside Nigeria.

NIGERIA @55— Third from left: Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; President Muhammadu Buhari; Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Chief Justice of the Federation Mahmud Mohammed and others, cutting the cake to celebrate the 55th Independence Anniversary of Nigeria at the forecourt of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida.

The President on Wednesday forwarded to the Senate, names of 21 nominees for confirmation, with a promise to send the others in due course.
Each state of the federation is, by virtue of the constitution, entitled to a ministerial slot in the federal cabinet.

Vanguard gathered, yesterday, that the Presidency insisted that more background checks be conducted on the nominees, especially against the backdrop of the need to avoid making mistakes in appointing the wrong persons into the cabinet.

It was further learned that the names of those transmitted to the Senate on Wednesday were those whose background checks had been concluded.

“It is not certain when the checks on the remaining 15 will be completed. This explains why the President, in his independence anniversary speech, did not give a time frame because it is dependent on when the security agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, will conclude their job on the nominees,” a source said last night.

The source said the 21 names already with the Senate had gone through the same process, adding that the issue had taken so much time because of the need to do a thorough job.

“If the President had his way, the process of appointing ministers would have long been concluded but the security people handling the checks pleaded for time to do a thorough job,” a reliable source told Vanguard.

Horse-trading
Apart from the checks, Vanguard investigation also revealed that the cause of the delay in submitting the 15 names is the horse-trading still going on within the All Progressives Congress, APC, over their nomination.

It was further learned that there was no consensus yet on the choice of the nominees by leaders in their states.

Next batch hits Senate next Tuesday – Garba Shehu

In his reaction last night, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said the next batch would be sent to the National Assembly, Tuesday.

He said: “To be honest with you, I have been travelling in the last two days. I came in early today (yesterday). I am not privy to any list. However, every government from 1999 till date under this constitution, has not given the names of ministers from day one.

“They (ministerial nominees) have always been sent to the National Assembly in batches, this is nothing extraordinary. Where is the balance? I do not know. May be by Tuesday next week when they come back, they (National Assembly) will probably have the balance waiting for them but if it will take a longer period, the President will decide that.”

Although the Senate is yet to officially make public names of the 21 nominees forwarded to it by the President, media reports reeled out names, including Dr. Chris Ngige (Anambra), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Gen. Abdurrahman Dambazau, retd, (Kano), Aisha AlHassan (Taraba), Ogbonnaya Onu (Abia), Kemi Adeosun (Ogun) and Abubakar Malami, SAN, (Kebbi).
Others are Senator Sirika Hadi (Katsina), Adebayo Shittu (Oyo), Sulaiman Adamu (Jigawa), Solomon Dalong (Plateau), Ibe Kachikwu (Delta), Osagie Ehanire (Edo, Udoma Udo-Udoma (Akwa Ibom), Ahmed Isa Ibeto (Niger), Ibrahim Jibril, Audu Ogbeh (Benue), and Amina Mohammed (Kaduna).

I doubt the names reported by the media – Babatope
However,former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said he doubted the authenticity of the list. He said: “I am not a member of the APC. What comment do I want to make on people who are not members of my party? I do not know them, I only know them by their names. All I can say is to wish them the best of luck when they are appointed. Anyway, they have not all been appointed. Buhari told us that he would be releasing their names piece-meal, so we will wait for the rest of the names. We do not know if the list is authentic because the President of the Senate said he would disclose their names on October 6, so, let us wait and see what happens.”

Be patient with Buhari – Ogunlewe
Former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the President as far as the ministerial list is concerned.

Ogunlewe said: “It is at the discretion of the President to send the names but we must first commend him. Why can’t we wait till October 6 because all these things we are reading are speculations.

“What Saraki said is that he has the list sealed and that he would not allow anybody access the contents until Tuesday. My suggestion is: Let everybody wait because we do not know the number of names on the list. We have to be patient with our government and reasonable. It is not every time we criticise, that is my own position.”

Buhari wants  the best – Fasehun
Founder of Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, said: “Probably the President does not want to over work the Senate. That is why he is taking his time in sending the names, making it to look as if he has embraced a piecemeal method. As a man with a vision of what he wants for the country, I want to believe that the President is not in a hurry to send all the list because he wants the best hands for the job.”

Also reacting, retired Police Commissioner, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, urged Nigerians to support the President in his war on graft, saying “we hope and pray that the corrupt and selfish elite will repent and give Buhari maximum support to take Nigeria to the next level.”

Nothing unique – Odumakin

National Publicity Secretary of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin said, yesterday, that President Buhari would have submitted the names of the ministerial nominees at Eagle Square rather than to the Senate.

Reacting to the speculated names of possible ministers, Odumakin, who noted that there was nothing unique about the list, said the President did not surprise anyone.

According to him, the names are not worth waiting for a period of four months.

“There is no excitement or surprise in the list. They are mostly run-of-the-mill people that do not warrant the nation waiting four months. Those names could have been submitted at Eagles Square on May 29.”

Buhari didn’t  need to wait this long —Sen. Urhoghide
Senator Matthew Urhoghide (PDP, Edo South) shared Odumakin’s views. He said it was not necessary for President Buhari to have waited this long before coming up with the list he made available.

According to Senator Urhoghide, the persons whose names were submitted have been around and known to the President, especially the nominee from Edo State, Osagie Ehanire.

Urhoghide, who noted that though the character and personality of the nominees were not in doubt, said what was paramount was performance as ministers.

What Gordon Brown, Clinton, others told me about Buhari, by Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed the impression of some world leaders about President Muhammadu Buhari.

The ex -President, who spoke with reporters at his Abeokuta home yesterday,  added that despite Nigeria’s “mistakes and missteps,” it is not doing badly at 55 as a nation.

Obasanjo added that 55 years in the life of a nation was still relatively young and notwithstanding this, the country had managed to be dynamic and progressive.

He said: “I heard some of the comments of those he (Buhari) met; the comment that probably will not come back to him. He met Clinton for almost one hour and President Clinton, when I joined him for his global initiative talked to me about the impression of our President, it was favourable.

“Gordon Brown and I met him and we talked about issues. The few other leaders who met him gave me their impression and his debut so to say, it has been good. I think we are at the table, what they use to say that Nigeria is not at the table, now we are present at the table.”

He said Nigerians should be willing to learn from past mistakes while core national values should also not be eroded to enable the real growth and progress become manifest.

He noted that Nigeria was now well positioned with the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for both recognition and active participation in global politics in a manner that would likely elicit positive attention from the international community.

According to Obasanjo, feelers from the world leaders and statemen during the recent UN summit showed that President Muhammadu Buhari did not only have a good outing there, but also helped to place Nigeria at a strategic position for global politics.

He identified youth unemployment, education, security, justice, the economy among others as areas the country should not joke with particularly corruption, saying it has the capacity to destroy everything noble about Nigeria.

Obsanjo said: “Fifty five years in the life of a nation is comparatively young, growing and when you look at the life and history of those that you may call settled societies or reasonably matured countries, we are not doing too badly.

“They have had missteps just as we are having missteps, they have made mistakes and most of them have learnt from their mistakes, they have been dynamic in the way they have progressed and I believe that we are doing the same thing.

“What is important is that certain cardinal pinches, cardinal features of our national live, values, should not be eroded. And then we should also be willing to learn from out mistakes.

“The President in his statement said Nigeria has the marks in making the potentialities of a great nation is just question of actualising our potentialities and that will require all hands on deck; men, women, muslims, christians, young and old, irrespective of our location, our tribe, our social standing, Nigeria needs all hands on deck.

“And we must also realise important issues that we must not play with, we must not play with the issue of education, we must not play with the issue of health for our people.

“We must not play with the issue of employment for our teeming population particularly for our youths, we must not play with the issue of economy, we must not play with the issue of security, peace and justice. Justice and peace go hand in hand, we can’t have injustice and expect peace to reign supreme.”