Eleven states of the federation will have to wait as President Bola Tinubu forwarded a list of 28 ministerial nominees through his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila to the Senate for screening and confirmation, yesterday.
The states that have to wait are Adamawa, Bayelsa, Gombe, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Plateau, Lagos, Osun, Yobe, and Zamfara.
Tinubu’s ministerial list is dominated by former governors, ex-senators, House of Representatives members and strong political allies believed to have worked for his victory at the polls.
The number of names sent was 28, with no state of origin attached and with a promise that more names would follow soon, as Adamawa, Kogi, Lagos, Anambra and Bayelsa states are missing from the list.
On the list is the current acting National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and Senator Abubakar Kyari, who represented Borno North in the 8th and 9th Senate.
Also on the list is Senator John Enoh, who represented Cross River Central in the 8th Senate, and Senator Abubakar Sani Danladi who was former acting governor and deputy governor of Taraba State.
However, Danladi was impeached by Taraba State House of Assembly on September 4, 2012, and replaced by Alhaji Umar Garba as deputy governor, who later became the acting governor of the state after the air crash that claimed the life of former Danbaba Suntai.
On the list are former Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Nkiru Onyejiocha, who represented Isuikwuato/ Umunneochi federal constituency, Abia State; Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, who represented Akoko North East/ North West federal constituency, Ondo State.
He was the chairman House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC; Abubakar Momoh, a two-time member of the House of Representatives who represented Etsako federal constituency, Edo State, and Ekperikpe Ekpo, who represented Abak federal constituency from 2007 and 2011 from Akwa Ibom State.
A former All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential aspirant, Barrister Uju Kennedy Ohaneye, made the list.
Former Executive Director, NEXIM Bank, Stella Okotete, from Delta State, and the Special Adviser to the President on Communication, Strategy and Special Duties, Dele Alake, from Ekiti State also made the list.
Alake is a close ally of President Tinubu. Former Commissioner in Lagos, Wale Edu, from Ogun
A surprise package on the ministerial list is the Publisher of Blue Print Newspapers, Mohammed Idris, from Niger State.
One of the lead counsels in Tinubu’s case at the election petition tribunal, Lateef Fagbemi, from Kwara State, and Accord Party’s governorship candidate in Oyo State, Waheed Adebayo Adelabu, also made the list.
Also on the list is Professor Joseph Utsev, a very close ally of the Secretary to Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator George Akume, and the Rector, of Federal Polytechnic, Wannune, Akume’s hometown in Tarka Local Government Area of Benue State.
Meanwhile, the Senate has suspended its annual long recess that would have commenced yesterday to begin the screening of the ministerial nominees next Monday.
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