Tinubu may favour technocrats over ex-govs in ministerial appointments

Tinubu may favour technocrats over ex-govs in ministerial appointments

Many former state governors currently jostling for ministerial appointments may have lost out.

This indication emerged as President Bola Tinubu is said to prefer technocrats.

A report by Vanguard quoted sources close to Tinubu as saying the President wanted to speed up the process of turning around many sectors of the nation’s economy by using people very knowledgeable in critical areas to drive the process.

They said it would be a replica of what he did in Lagos when he was the state governor many years ago.

The lobby, it was reported, started after Monday’s dissolution of the governing boards of the Federal Government’s agencies.

The report also stated that former governors on the platform of the All Progressives Congress and Peoples Democratic Party are making frantic efforts to ensure their nominees get appointments to the boards agencies and parastatals.

Vanguard also reported a source as saying some former governors, especially those of northern extraction, are pushing to be ministers.

The source said, “There is a little crisis in the northern APC; they are becoming a liability to Tinubu. Most of the former governors want to be ministers because they feel they contributed to Tinubu’s electoral victory.

‘’Some of these leaders collected mobilisation from Asiwaju but they now want to become ministers.

“As a result of that, they now want to become a distraction to the President by insisting that they should be appointed as ministers and appointing people to the boards of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs.

“Some of them have also approached him (President) for contracts.

“For now, Tinubu is trying to avoid these former northern governors; he is trying to distance himself from them.
“The President is looking at appointing technocrats, especially from the North. In Kano, for instance, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso is being favoured ahead of the former governor, Alhaji Umar Ganduje.

“As far as the President is concerned, Ganduje has lost Kano and the President believes Kwakwanso is more relevant to him at the federal level.”

Another source, however, insisted that Ganduje remains a Tinubu’s man.

On the fate of former governors making the list, a source said, “In some of the states like Ogun, for instance, it is believed that the role played by Governor Dapo Abiodun during the APC presidential primary when he aligned with former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo did not go down well with the president.

“The President has not made up his mind as to which bloc of the APC in Ogun will produce a minister.

“We also heard that some former governors like Senator Ibikunle Amosun are trying to realign and make amends with the President.”