That Amaechi made #TheList is not very surprising in the sense that Buhari is not so unjust to forget easily the effort of the former Rivers Gov who critics claimed sucked Rivers State dry to make sure Jonathan is heavily defeated ; but the main surprising one is the inclusion of Lai Muhammed in #TheList.
The inclusion of the APC spokesman in the list indicated two things...1. That Buhari trust TINUBU in the stakes of Kwara politics than Saraki 2. That Buhari did not seek the input of Saraki in compiling #TheList.
Whatever the politricks' may be is no longer the case but how they will scale the hurdles of Senate screening is the Koko.
#Now the hurdles ahead for this two men are dare more than the other 19 nominees.
For Amaechi he will be facing the opposition from his state which he carelessly lost to PDP at the last election. The convention in the Senate is that any nominee must at least have the endorsement of two of his state Senators out of the three but curious though not surprising, Amaechi neither has any support from these three distinguished men nor enjoy the magnanimity of Wike as in the case of Fayemi. This means that the Lion of Niger Delta as his admirers fondly call him will now rely on the strength of 'overseas' Senators of the Senate APC dominated but PDP controlled Senate. The woes of Amaechi seems compounded when the heat of CCT trial of Saraki, he was seen to be silent or discreetly in support of the trial. Already, the government of Rivers has mobilized all the federal lawmakers in the state against the confirmation of this same man with the recent petition sent to the Senate President by the 13 PDP House of Representatives members from the state warning of the dangerous consequences of confirming the former Gov as a minister. How Amaechi will overcome this will be seen in the few days as both parties strategize. But the question I continue to ask is why the people of Rivers will want to stop by all means a legitimate son of the state from being appointed into the govt of the day.
On the other hand, the PDP as a party will want to take a pound of flesh from the man who led the onslaught against them in the last election. He remains the catalyst for change and a quintessential pride of APC who must be protected from the PDP apparatchik who may wish to take their pound of flesh when screening begins next week otherwise he may not scale the screening.
That of Lai Muhammed is interesting coming from the state of the Senate President who is a pretty godfather in the state. Lai is widely known godson of Tinubu the estranged foe of the Senate President who r at loggerheads over who controls the Red Chamber and who has been fingered as the arrowhead over the trial of Saraki over false declaration of assets. That the 'notorious boy' of this same man will now represent the interest of the Senate President in the Senate will NEVER be the wish of Saraki. The ruling party spokesman seems to have hit the wall when he presumably acting under the interest of Tinubu whose candidate lost to Saraki rushed to the media and described Saraki's emergence as ”treachery, disloyalty, insincerity and totally unacceptable'. But you can't vow for a politician you know, some three days ago, we were told that the Gov of Sokoto State Alh. Tambuwal took Lai to Saraki at night but how this will help him will be seen in the next days ahead.
Generally, the way Saraki led Red Chamber will handle this screening will define the executive - legislative relationship which is dear to Saraki.
I want to use this time to say congratulations to a simple man I admire a lot who is an epitome sacrificer' who was seen to have lost many in the merger of APC, H. E. Dr Ogbonnaya Onu who is among #TheList, it is a well deserved inclusion. I can remember that the greedy nature of the only APC Gov in south East cost Onu both the Chairman of the party and Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
My good wishes also goes to Dr Chris Ngige, a worthy son of Igbo land whose loyalty to the cause of APC is unwavering. Dr Chris Ngige is a medical doctor who rose to become a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Health before retiring to join politics. He distinguished himself as a medical doctor and as a governor and naturally had a predilection for medical projects during his tenure as governor of Anambra State.
Babatunde Fashola SAN, needs no introduction to Nigerians. A distinguisghed Senior Advocate of Nigeria, he has a cult following because of the strides and advances he made whilst he was a two term Governor of Lagos State. He continued the work of his illustrious predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in changing the face of Lagos State into a cosmopolitan city that would rival any city in developing countries of the world whilst at the same time also continuing to increase the internally generated revenue of the State. I congratulate him too.
Dr Fayemi is a guru in foreign relations and international community and was a successful Governor of
Ekiti State who brought much needed development to that State with his distinct style of refinement. He is among #TheList too.
The three women nominated by President Buhari namely, Senator Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan, Amina Mohammed and Kemi Adeosun are all distinguished women of integrity in their own right and I wish them luck too.
Space won't allow me mention all but I know President Buhari painstakingly made a choice he will be willing to defend when the need arises.
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