Less than 30 days to the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term, The Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, has requested that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, will assume a job in deciding the choices President Muhammadu Buhari would make in picking the next cabinet ministers but the party would not lord it over him., Igbere TV has learned.
According to him, President Buhari, as a loyal party man would make provision for his party’s recommendations but would personally take definite decisions as to who gets what portfolio in the Federal Executive Council even as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has hinted that there will be a cabinet of national unity.
In a chat with The Guardian, Adesina stated: “The APC will surely have a stake and voice in who makes the cabinet, but it won’t lord or impose things on the President. The President is a member of the party, and the party will have its dues, but the buck still stops at the President’s table.”
On whether President Buhari won’t take long to establish another cabinet as he did in 2015, Adesina stated: “The conditions are never again the equivalent. Along these lines, there would be no deferral.
When you land in the mud of poor and postponed handover notes as occurred in 2015, with a vandalized economy and a nation with various kinds of difficulties, the deferral would be justifiable. However at this point, we have the favorable luck of change from government to government headed by a similar President and Vice President, things should then be possible all the more speedily.”
Speaking on whether some outgoing ministers will be retained given the general perception of poor performance, he said: “That is a matter of opinion. If that is what you believe, you are entitled to it. But it does not make it the gospel truth. Members of the outgoing cabinet have served with diligence and commitment, and that is why the President kept them till now. If there was any laggard, you can be sure the President would not suffer such person gladly.”
On why the President’s kitchen cabinet could still be majorly of people Nigerians think do not represent the plurality expected of a national government, Adesina defended President Buhari, saying: “Members of kitchen cabinets are people you know closely, and whom you can vouch for. There’s nothing that says such must be subjected to federal character principle. A President composes his kitchen cabinet of people he knows, and is comfortable with. But on a general note, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has indicated that the incoming government would be one of national unity. The President will always do what is best for the country at any given time.”
