Buhari rejects ministerial list from APC governors
dashed the hopes of the governors elected
on the platform of the APC when he
rejected their plans to submit a ministerial
list to him.
The APC governors, led by Governor
Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, had, last
Tuesday, visited Buhari in Abuja to pledge
loyalty and make some demands. At the
meeting, some requests were placed on
the table openly, while the request to drop
the list of possible ministers came up for
discussion behind the closed door.
Sources close to the meeting between the
governors and General Buhari indicated that the
state chief executives came out of the visit with
heavy minds.
Planning to maintain the tradition already
instituted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
where the state governors as party leaders in the
states are requested to submit list of possible
ministers and Ambassadorial appointees to the
president, the governors threw the request at
Buhari.
But it was learnt that the General rejected the
proposal and declared that the Constitution does
not mandate him to take a list of ministerial
nominees from them.
The president-elect was also said to have rejected
the call for a bailout for the states that have been
unable to pay salaries, with a source informing
Sunday Tribune that the General flatly rejected the
proposal, saying the he was aware the Federal
Government was not owing the states their
allocations.
A source close to the discussion told the Sunday
Tribune that General Buhari told the governors
that those of them in their second terms could not
complain about the state of government finances,
as they have all been collecting allocations from
the Federal Government all along.
The source quoted Buhari as saying that “I do not
think we can discuss that issue of Ministerial list.
The Constitution clearly does not mandate me to
take a list from the governors. To me, the
governors should concentrate on getting good
hands to help them in discharging their duties in
the states.”
Nigerian Tribune.
Comments
Post a Comment