Except there is a rethink capable of
halting the rising disenchantment in the All Progressives Congress (APC)
over the choice of non-career ambassadorial nominees whose names were
submitted last week by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Senate for
screening and confirmation, some of the nominees may not scale through
screening.
Indeed, if the executive arm of
government fails to get the buy-in of APC chieftains in some states over
the choice of ambassadorial nominees, THISDAY gathered that quite a few
may end up the way of some members of the board of the Niger Delta
Development Commission (NDDC) who were not confirmed by the Senate
recently following the plethora of petitions against the nominees to the
board of the regional commission.
Although the Bukola Saraki-led
Senate has, since assuming office, tried to co-operate with the
executive arm of government by clearing most of its nominees to
positions in government, the situation could again find the Senate
caught in the middle between the presidency and ruling APC over Buhari’s
choice of ambassadorial nominees.
Whilst this is not a direct battle of
the Senate, the upper legislative chamber is the only avenue available
to aggrieved interests in the APC to challenge what is now being
described as the scant regard for party supremacy in the appointment of
persons into government positions.
THISDAY gathered last night that a
majority of the party leaders across the country, including APC
governors, were not happy with the way the latest ambassadorial list was
handled, as they were completely alienated from the selection process,
rendering them inconsequential in the power equation in their home
zones.
This disappointment was said to have
been more pronounced in the South-west geopolitical zone, where a
majority of the APC leaders claimed complete ignorance of the persons
appointed from their respective states.
Apart from the likes of Senator
Olorunimbe Mamora, Mrs. Paulin Tallen, Mr. Usman Bugaje, and a few
others whose appointments, many of the party’s leaders can justify, the
aggrieved APC chieftains have vowed to frustrate other ambassadorial
nominees on the grounds that they do not represent the reality and
endorsement of party leaders in their states.
According to a source in government who
is also a chieftain of the APC, there are indications that aggrieved
leaders and their respective governors might have concluded plans to
frustrate the screening exercise through their representatives in the
Senate “because this disregard for party leadership and supremacy must
stop,” the source said.
In Ekiti State for example, the nominee,
Ayodele Ayodeji, is said to be unknown to all the three former
governors of the party, who are prominent members of the APC, in
addition to the fact that he just finished serving the country as the
Ambassador to Greece, thus negating the understanding that anyone who
was once an ambassador would not be qualified under the current
dispensation.
Also, in Osun and Oyo States, the
governors were said to be unaware of how the nominees from their states
were shortlisted, in the same manner Buhari had surprised them during
the ministerial appointments by not consulting with any of the party
leaders.
Adegboyega Ogunwusi, the elder brother
of the Ooni of Ife in Osun State and Ashimiyu Olaniyi were nominated
without consultations with Governors Rauf Aregbesola and Abiola Ajimobi
of Osun and Oyo States, respectively.
The THISDAY source said: “This is the
same thing the wife of the president, Aisha, was talking about. These
same people are the ones who drafted the list as they wanted and pushed
it through without consulting anyone.
“Even in Ogun State where the governor,
Senator Ibikunle Amosun, is assumed to be very close to the president,
was said to have had no say in the choice of nominee from the state, as
Ade Asekun was said to have been nominated by Vice-President Yemi
Osinbajo.”
Although the Ogun governor may not have a problem with this, the source said, he should have at least been consulted.
Similarly, the choice of Justice George
Oguntade from Lagos was said to have been entirely the decision of the
president, because it was seen as compensation for the retired Supreme
Court justice’s minority report in 2008 when Buhari challenged the
outcome of the presidential election that the late President Umaru Musa
Yar’Adua won in 2007.
Other ambassadorial nominees, sources
said, were decided by the presidency. It is for this reason aggrieved
leaders of the party have vowed to turn to the Senate to assert their
place in a government they helped to install.
THISDAY gathered that the leaders are
particularly worried because of the way the government is being run
without recourse to the party leadership’s input.
When contacted on the discontent within
the party over the ambassadorial nominees, the president’s media aide,
Mr. Femi Adesina, said if the grievances are genuine they would be
looked into.
“Whatever grievances there are, if genuine, they will looked into,” he said to THISDAY.
THISDAY
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