Internal politicking over the formation of the cabinet of president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, has started in earnest.
Although, some individuals have been
penciled down for certain offices, selection of those to fill the
coveted “juicy” positions may not be an easy task as powerful party
members and others who gave Buhari support from outside the APC are
pushing one or two nominees they believe can do a good job.
DAILY POST on Monday gathered that
former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Professor Chukwuma
Charles Soludo may have been presented by former president Olusegun
Obasanjo as the possible Minister of Finance for the Buhari
administration.
Soludo was a member of the economic team for the Obasanjo administration prior to becoming the governor of the CBN.
Soludo’s presentation to the incoming
administration as candidate for Minister of Finance is reportedly
causing disquiet within the inner circles of the party, 247ureports
said.
Many APC chieftains are said to be
against his candidature on two grounds. One is that Soludo remains a
card carrying member of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and
his appointment would been as taking from Peter to pay Paul.
The other is that it was under Soludo
that the banking sector almost collapsed, a situation confirmed by
former CBN chief and Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, a staunch
supporter of the APC.
It was also under Sanusi that the
banking industry went through a recapitalisation process that led to the
reduction in the number of banks from 50 to 25.
His clean up also witnessed the
prosecution of bank Chief Executive Officers who were discovered to have
robbed their own banks by almost unilaterally awarding contracts to
phoney organisations and companies they either own or had substantial
omnterest in.
DAILY POST gathered that former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, is strongly against Obasanjo’s recommendation.
Sources say he had in fact reached an
agreement with Buhari prior to the APC presidential primaries concerning
appointment into ministerial positions.
Tinubu, it was learnt, extracted an agreement from Buhari, to which the president-elect appended his signature.
According to the agreement, Tinubu will provide names for nine ministerial positions.
Some of the positions are said to include Petroleum, Finance, Works, Federal Capital Territory and Interior.
It is to this end that the camp of the party’s co-founder, Tinubu, frowns at the presentation of Soludo as Minister of Finance.
Soludo, who is keen on returning to government, is reported to have been convinced by Obasanjo to accept the position.
It is however left to be seen if Buhari will oblige Obasanjo’s request or stick to his agreement with Tinubu.
Obasanjo played a key role in Buhari’s
emergence as APC presidential flagbearer and his eventual victory at the
polls, thus, his words would not be discarded with a mere wave of the
hand.
Soludo had been heavily critical of the economic policies of the Jonathan administration.
The most critical was in the build up to
the general election where he alleged that the current adminstration
mismanaged over N20 trillion of Nigeria’s money.
His criticisms, which were published in
major newspapers and websites, unsettled the Jonathan administration
with the Minister of Finance, Nigozi Okonjo-Iweala, taking on Soludo in
more than one rejoinders.
Source – Daily Post Ng
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