Following public
outcry over President Muhammadu Buhari’s delay in announcing his choice of
ministers, the Presidency has responded, urging Nigerians to be patient.
Shortly before his May 29 inauguration, it was reported that Buhari rejected
plans by governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to submit ministerial
nominees to him.
The Senior
Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media, Garba Shehu, while
speaking in an interview with Sahara TV on Saturday, argued against comparing
Buhari’s government to such states as Kaduna and Rivers, which have appointed
some commissioners.
He said,
“The President did say he would hit the ground running, but he has not been
given the chance to hit the ground running because the administration that he
succeeded — the Jonathan administration — did not deliver the handover notes
until two or three days to the inauguration, meaning that these handover notes
were submitted at a time when everyone had been consumed by (inauguration)
activities.
“Unfortunately,
there was no time to look at them until after the President had been
inaugurated. The President was left in the dark. He had to understand what the
situation was and what was on the ground. That was why he set up a different
transition committee. It was only this week that the committee, led by Dr.
Ahmed Joga, scrutinised the handover notes and handed over the report to him
(Buhari).
“To be
fair to him, he would have hit the ground running if the previous government
had handed over the notes early. However, the Jonathan government did not even
permit any minister to interact in any way with the Buhari Transition
Committee. Evidently, we had our hands tied behind our backs until we took
over. Thus, there is nothing shady about it.”
Shehu also explained that the ministerial
appointments had yet to be made because the committee needed to conclude its
findings first, an 800-page report of which was presented to Buhari on Friday.
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