Former minister of works during Obasanjo’s regime, Senator Seye Ogunlewe, has cautioned Nigerians on the issue of nominating ministerial appointees by President Bola Tinubu, stressing that it is his prerogative to choose whoever he wants as his ministers.
Senator Ogunlewe who gave this advice while speaking during an interview with Saturday Independent, said “It is the President who can determine those to serve in his cabinet.
“He knows the people and he knows what he expects from them. He knows their contributions to his election success.
“He should be allowed to pick his team. When the chips are down, everything stops on the table of Mr. President.
“Let Nigerians allow him to choose and whoever he chooses is final.
The former minister had spoken following the various opinions from the public, condemning the President on those who he had appointed as ministers.
President Tinubu had sent the first and the second list of 28 and 20 ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening, through his Chief of Staff, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.
The President who sent the first list on July 27, 2023, had included the former governors of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, and Dr Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State in the list.
However, the choice of Wike, El-Rufai and some other ex-governors has caused a lot of controversies, with people complaining that most of the state governors did not perform excellently while in office as governors of their respective states.
Reacting to the people’s criticisms, Ogunlewe argued that the President knows why he had decided to choose those he chooses and he knows those who are fit for his government, noting that it is his right to choose whosoever pleases him.
“We shouldn’t bother ourselves. He is the one to run his government. We are not going to run his government for him. He should choose those he thinks have the capacity to run the government with him.”
Reacting to the issue of a petition against El-Rufai concerning security, he said, “Nigerians shouldn’t bother themselves as I said earlier.
“They should leave the man alone and allow the President to assign whatever he deems fit to him.”
Similarly, people have been expressing their disappointment with the breed of people who Tinubu is appointing to his cabinet, saying that the President should dim it fit to appoint technocrats into his administration.
In his reaction to this, Ogunlewe said, “All those governors are also technocrats. They are professionals. They are entitled to reap from where they sowed.
“During the elections, where were all these people who are complaining now? All the people that he selected took responsibility for his success.
“Asiwaju is going to do his best for Nigerians. Let him choose his team. It is his prerogative to choose his team. Nobody will choose his team for him.”
While reacting to the replacement of the Kano State nominee, Mariam Shetty, he said, “He (Tinubu) must have a reason for his action. He wouldn’t have done that arbitrarily. He should have his reason.”
Tinubu who had earlier sent a second list of 19 ministerial nominees to the Senate on Wednesday, sent a letter to the Senate to replace her name with Mahmood Mairiga, for ministerial, who is also from the same Kano State, where Shetty comes from, while also included Festus Keyamo’s name, making the names on the list, 20.
Meanwhile, Shetty was not aware of her replacement with Mairiga until she got to the Senate for screening on Friday, and this caused various criticisms from Nigerians.
However, the inclusion of Keyamo’s name on the second list has made the total ministerial nominees to be 48, as of Friday, August 4, 2023.
