Bickering between powerful interest groups, delayed security screening as well as procrastination by President Goodluck Jonathan himself yesterday led to the failure to nominate ministers from four states of the federation in the list sent to the Senate.
After nearly a month’s delay, the names of 34 ministerial nominees sent by President Jonathan were read on the floor of the Senate yesterday. While two states, Benue and Ogun, had two nominees each, the four states of Kaduna, Plateau, Ondo and Cross River did not have any nominee.



Former Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund [PTDF] Alhaji Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar, popularly known as Mairago, had been expected to be on the ministerial list from Kaduna State, having undergone security screening along with other nominees last week. Political sources in Abuja told Daily Trust that the omission of Mairago’s name from the list was due to a lobby mounted by Kaduna State governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa to replace him with former state Finance Commissioner Alhaji Sulaiman Hunkuyi, allegedly in fulfillment of a deal in which Hunkuyi returned to PDP’s fold just before last April’s governorship polls and helped Yakowa to secure victory. Hunkuyi had been estranged from the party after he lost the gubernatorial primary election to Yakowa. The source said Mairago is favoured by Vice President Mohamed Namadi Sambo, who is from Kaduna State. The source said Governor Yakowa was in Abuja several times last week pushing for Hunkuyi’s candidacy.

However, spokesmen for both Vice President Sambo and Governor Yakowa denied this claim. Yakowa’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Reuben Buhari told Daily Trust last night that it was not true that the governor was in Abuja to lobby for Hunkuyi’s ministerial nomination. According to him, the governor was frequenting Abuja in order to address some pressing state issues.

Buhari said, “There is no any pact between the governor and Hunkuyi. After the primaries, Hunkuyi like other aspirants that contested for the governorship primaries came back and worked for the success of the party in the general election. As for the ministerial slot of the state, names were submitted to the national secretariat of the party and they picked one of them. There is nothing like VP’s or Governor’s candidates. All the people shortlisted and submitted for consideration are party men and women and are equal to the task.”

Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Vice President Malam Umar Sani also denied the report that Mairago is Sambo’s preferred candidate. He said, “The vice president has no candidate. It was the party at the state level, after consultation with the state governor that submitted names of 10 persons including Mairago and Hunkuyi as its nominees. Anyone of them could be chosen.

It was not the Vice President that submitted the names; it was the governor. So to say that Mairago or any of the other nine is not his nominee is off the mark.’’

Kaduna State PDP Alhaji Yau Usman also said he was not aware that the name of the Mairago was not on the list submitted by President Jonathan to the Senate yesterday. He said, “I don’t know why his name was removed. All I know is we submitted 10 names for consideration as minister. Mairago and Suleiman Hunkuyi were on the list. The Vice President and the state governor were all involved in the selection of the 10 persons. It is the prerogative of the president to pick any of the candidates to work for him as a minister,” he said. Efforts to reach Hunkuyi for his comments were unsuccessful.

In the case of Plateau State, Dr. Jonah Madugu, who underwent security screening, was expected on yesterday’s list but it somehow disappeared. Sources in the state said his earlier nomination had bred severe discontent among the political class leading to public outcry and petitions to the presidency, the PDP and other relevant authorities. Madugu, who was one time Minister of Agriculture during the Abacha regime, hails from the same senatorial zone -Plateau North - as Governor Jonah Jang. Both the governor and the ministerial nominee are also from the same Birom ethnic group.

In its petition, the Movement for the Survival of Plateau People (MOSPP) said the governor had acted in disregard of the principle of federal character which guarantees the right to equitable distribution of public offices to ensure that all sections of the country are carried along. The National Association of Plateau State Students Alumni also petitioned the presidency in respect of Madugu’s nomination. Many of those who rose against the nominee said the governor had acted with impunity, saying such has never happened since the beginning of this Republic in 1999. “Even when we had two ministers during the regime of Chief Joshua Dariye, none ever came from Plateau Central as Dariye,” one stakeholder in Jos who does not want to be named said.

However, Plateau State commissioner for Justice Edward Pwajok said a ministerial nominee for Plateau was not announced yesterday because the release of the names of nominees are done in batches. The commissioner said he was able to establish this as reason when he put a call to ascertain what must have happened. He appealed for calm, saying the name of the nominee from Plateau will come out in the next batch.

But state publicity secretary of the Labour Party in Plateau said no name was mentioned from Plateau due to infighting among PDP members. He said most of the PDP members went to the party for appointments not for service and that is why they have sustained the culture of petition and pulling one another down.

Our correspondent however learnt that the petitions against Dr. Jonah Madugu may have contributed in delaying the list from Plateau.

And in Ondo State yesterday, two factions of the party in the state began to trade words Following the failure of the president to nominate any minister from the state. The party’s Interim Management Committee headed by the former Nigerian Ambassador to Greece Prof Olu Agbi rejected the appointment of Mrs. Omobola Johnson, who had earlier been sent for security screening.

Speaking at a news conference in Akure yesterday, Agbi said Mrs. Johnson was unknown to the party, saying her appointment would continue to cause more crises in the state. Agbi said the interim management committee had written a protest letter to the presidency asking it to drop the name of Johnson.

According to him, “Speculation is rife that one Omobola Johnson’s name has been sent to the Senate for confirmation. We want to state clearly that her name is not known to the PDP in Ondo state.

“The woman is married to Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson in Lagos; she is not deeply rooted in Ondo State politics. We need a minister than can be a rallying point and that can fund the party, not just anybody”.

However, the state executive of the party headed by Dr. Tayo Dairo said the selection was in order, adding that President Jonathan had his reason to pick Mrs. Johnson as the best choice to represent the state in the Federal Cabinet.

A statement issued by the Publicity Director of the Party Mr. Ayo Fadaka said, “In spite of the fact that Mr. President did not make his ministerial choice from the list sent by the party, we still respect his choice from the state.

“Mrs. Omobola Johnson is from a prominent family in this state, properly brought up and a technocrat of no mean repute. It is inalienable right to pick whoever the president desires to help him in administering the nation”.


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