PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu assumed power on May 29, 2023, amid huge expectations. He came at a time when Nigerians were facing an avalanche of economic, socio-political, security and developmental challenges needing quick fixes in the short term to lessen the burden of the masses.
Tinubu was expected to hit the ground running. Indeed, he appeared in a hurry to start delivering on his campaign promises.
On the political scene, Tinubu asserted himself. Within a short while, he became the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, on July 9.
Apart from ECOWAS, President Tinubu had his ways on other issues. For instance, he prevailed in his choice of principal officers of both chambers of the National Assembly, removal and recomposition of the hierarchy of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and National Working Committee, and NWC.
Tinubu also kept to the deadline (partially, though) and nominated his ministers within the two months allowed by law amid hiccups here and there.
Senate, Reps leadership
Faced with discordant tunes and agitation from aspirants from most zones of the country, Tinubu ‘worked’ with the APC NWC to ‘anoint’ Senator Godswill Akpaio (South-South) as Senate President; Senator Barau Jubril (North-West) as deputy Senate president; Rep Tajudeen Abass (North-West) as speaker and Rep Benjamin Kalu (South-East) as deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. The other aspirants kicked but in the end, Tinubu and the APC leadership had their way.
With the four major principal offices gone, the next were the other principal officers across party lines. To the consternation of the APC and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senate President Akpabio announced Senators Opeyemi Bamidele, Dave Umahi, Ali Ndume and Lola Ashiru as Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate respectively.
Similarly, Abbas named Julius Ihonvbere and Kingsley Chinda as the majority leader and minority leader respectively in the House of Representatives. They both represent the APC and PDP.
Peeved at the development, then National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu disowned the announcement, saying the party had not officially communicated with both presiding officers of the national legislature.
While addressing APC governors, Adamu said it was the party’s responsibility to communicate such decisions to the assembly leadership, saying the NWC under him was not about to break away from tradition.
Adamu was particularly bitter because Akpabio and Abass had engagements with him a day before the announcements but did not brief him. Adamu’s disowning of the principal officers marked the beginning of his ouster as APC chairman.
Adamu, Omisore’s ouster
In mid-July, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and Senator Iyiola Omisore lost out as national chairman and secretary, respectively. They came into office in March last year.
They spent barely 16 months on their seats. Deputy National Chairman (North), Abubakar Kyari took over as acting national chairman. Also, Deputy National Secretary, Festus Fuanter took over as acting secretary. The plot that led to Adamu’s resignation appeared to deepen the crisis in APC as a flurry of resignations followed. Malam Salihu Mohd Lukman National Vice Chairman (North-West) and National Legal Adviser Ahmed El-Marzuk, among others, also resigned.
In a power-play that caused further divisions in the party, immediate past Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje from the North-West, on the backing of Tinubu, became the national chairman. He succeeded Adamu who hails from the North-Central, which was placated with a national legal adviser position.
With Ganduje as APC chairman, Tinubu has sustained the tradition of ex-governors emerging as past APC chairmen. The trend started with Bisi Akande (former Osun State governor), John Odigie-Oyegun (Edo), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa) and now Ganduje (Kano).
The APC NWC ratification of Dr Abdullah Ganduje and former Senate Spokesman, Senator Ajibola Basiru as chairman and secretary on August 3, raised dust over the same faith appointments as the duo are muslims. President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima are Muslims. The APC Muslim-Muslim ticket was an issue at the 2023 general polls.
Ministerial appointment
Tinubu raised dust with the way he went about forming his cabinet. To beat the 60-day timeframe provided by the law, he first sent the names of 28 ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and confirmation. While the senators were screening the first nominees he sent another of 19 making 47.
In yet another controversial move, President Tinubu withdrew the name of one of the nominees, Maryam Shetty, who went to the Senate for the screening not knowing that she had been dropped and sent another set of nominees which included Festus Keyamo.
Thus Tinubu sent 48 names for confirmation. Some senators kicked against the nomination of Keyamo, accusing him of disrespecting the National Assembly in the past. The stance made Senate President Akpabio race to Aso Rock for a chat with Tinubu, and when he returned Keyamo was screened and cleared after apologising to the legislators. Senate has cleared 45 of the 48 names.
They refused to clear the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, Stella Oketete and former deputy governor, Danladi over security reports.The 45 ministers were sworn in on August 21, making Tinubu’s cabinet the largest since 1999. His predecessors did not have more than 42 ministers. The new ministers were also sworn in without the traditional ministerial retreat
Reshuffling cabinet before swearing
Tinubu also did the unimaginable by reshuffling his cabinet before swearing in the ministers he had earlier portfolios. It was the first of its kind in Nigeria. Those affected are former Osun State Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, House of Representatives member Olubuni Tunji-Ojo, Alhaji Saidu Alkali, Mr Abubakar Momoh, Heineken Lokpobiri and Ekperikpe Ekpo.
Weakening opposition
Tinubu appointed former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and Prof Tahir Mamman the Vice Chancellor of Baze University owned by Yusuf Datti-Ahmed as ministers. Wike is a topshot of the PDP, whose romance with the Federal Government is now causing ripples in the PDP. Datti-Ahmed was the vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 presidential poll. He is in court alongside Mr Peter Obi, the LP flag bearer, to overturn Tinubu’s election.
Female ministers
Tinubu nominated seven women for ministerial appointment of which the Senate cleared six. Those nominated were Rep Nkeiru Onyejiocha, Beta Edu, Doris Aniche Uzoka, Uju Kennedy Ohaneye, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, Stella Oketete, and Hannatu Musawa. Oketete was not cleared. The six women represented 13.33 per cent of the 45 ministers sworn in.
Tinubu is the first president to appoint a serving NYSC member, Ms. Hannatu Musawa as a minister. But there are issues with her appointment.
FEC meeting
He moved the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting from Wednesday to Monday. Thus the business of the government will now start on Mondays instead of Wednesdays as witnessed in the past.
So far, Tinubu is showing why his loyalists hail him as ‘The Jagaban.’ It is to be seen if his political masterstrokes will change the fortunes of Nigerians.
(Vanguard)
