Ogbeh, Amaechi, Ngige, Lai, Fayemi, Dambazau unveiled as Buhari’s ministerial nominees

Senate President Bukola Saraki on Tuesday read out the list of ministerial nominees sent last week by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Audu Ogbeh, former national chairman of the the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was named on the list, as well as all other names reported by TheCable on Wednesday.

Those reported last week by TheCable are Babatunde Fashola, former governor of Lagos state; Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers state; Lai Mohammed, national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Party (APC); Kayode Fayemi, former governor of Ekiti state; Chris Ngige, former governor of Anambra state and former senator of the federal republic; Ogbonnaya Onu, first executive governor of Abia state and former national chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP); and Udoma Udo Udoma, a former senator who represented Akwa Ibom south senatorial constituency at the national assembly.

Aisha Alhassan, who was on the brink of becoming the first elected female governor before eventually losing the Taraba state governorship election to Darius Ishiaku of PDP; Malami Abubakar, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former legal adviser of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC); Hadi Sirika, a former pilot and former CPC senator who represented Katsina north senatorial district; Adebayo Shittu, former governorship candidate of CPC in Oyo state; Ibe Kachikwu, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Amina Mohammed, former special adviser to the Nigerian president on millennium development goals (MDGs) and current special adviser to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on post-2015 development planning; Kemi Adeosun, former commissioner for finance in Ogun state; Abdulrahman Dambazau, a retired lieutenant general and former chief of army staff; were named on the list as well.

All these the senate confirmed on Tuesday, in addition to Solomon Dalong from Plateau state; Suleiman Adamu; Ibrahim Usman Jibrin, former military governor of Kaduna state; Musa Ibeto, former deputy governor of Niger state; and Osagie Ehanire, a medical doctor from Edo state.

When Saraki finished reading the list of the ministerial nominees on the floor of the chamber, Godswill Akpabio, senate minority leader, raised‎ a point of order challenging the “incompleteness” of the list.

“When the list was coming, we expected 36 names. When are we expecting the next batch, or are we to still wait?‎ ” Akpabio asked the senate president.

He added that the list did not represent real change as touted by the APC government, an utterance to which PDP senators broke out in peals of laughter.

Saraki said Akpabio’s observations were noted, explaining that the president had said he would send the second batch of ministerial nominees soon.

The senate president also disclosed that the screening of the nominees would commence on October 13. He said the one-week gap was to allow senators time to study the credentials of the nominees ahead of the screening.