The Labour Party (LP) has slammed President Bola Tinubu over the list of his ministerial nominees forwarded to the National Assembly last week.
News360 Info recalls the President’s Chief Of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila on Thursday presented the list of ministerial nominees to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio during the plenary of the lawmakers.
However, the Labour Party in a statement by its spokesman, Pastor Obiora Ifoh questioned why President Tinubu only sent 28 names and left about ten states without any representation in the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The statement noted that the party is seeking proper legal counsel and may take a decision in the coming days to demand the full list of nominees as envisaged by the Electoral Act instead of the partial list submitted by the President.
The party added that despite taking a long time to release his nominees, Tinubu still disappointed Nigerians with the calibre of people included in the list.
Obiora said the expectations of Nigerians have been shattered by the names contained in the list because they consist of failed and clueless politicians who have only been recycled.
The statement reads in part: “Labour Party will therefore in the days ahead seek proper legal counsel on the legality or otherwise of a piecemeal submission of the ministerial list as against the submission of the “Full” list as envisaged by the Electoral Act”.
“About 10 states will not have representatives in the Federal Executive Council meeting when it is convened. No state in Nigeria should be made to suffer for the ill-preparedness and incongruous attitude of this government.
It is therefore pertinent for us to put on record that the expectations of Nigerians were completely shattered.
Nigerians expected more quality, character, dynamic, and resulted-oriented Nigerians to be on that list, but what we saw is a recycling of some failed and clueless politicians who have contributed to bringing Nigeria to its parlous condition.
Some of these nominees played prominent anti-democratic roles in the previous administration, particularly since 2015, which saw the APC government fail in all its promises to Nigerians.
We also saw “Prebendal” politics in full swing where mainly the cronies and lackeys of the APC national leader were selected for a reward for servitude and blind discipleship.
This list does not in any way reflect the enormous reservoir of talents, potentials, and resources Nigeria is known for.
It still baffles us as to why this government ignored the youthful and technocratic potentials that abound but rather chose to appoint spent forces that have failed Nigeria in the past.
A glance at the list exposes the absence of technocrats who usually form the nucleus or core policy implementers in any given government for effective delivery, given the socio-economic condition of the people, challenges we have with the economy as well as in all other facets of life including security, health, education, and poverty reduction amongst others.
Assembling transactional and traditional politicians to man the government at this critical point would not give the expected result. The political class has failed Nigerians in the past and as the saying goes, we desire square pegs in square holes but that is far from what we are being served”, LP stated.
Tinubu Not Running A Serious Government
The Labour Party disclosed that it had expected the list to contain youths and technocrats capable of tackling the multiple challenges in the country.
It added that President Tinubu had enough time to include credible people in his list but has shown he is not running a serious government by the list sent to the National Assembly.
“We earnestly hoped that there would have been more young people who would be part of the government. At this point in our history, we need people with a track record, young people with energy who can transverse the country, think out of the box, and think all through the night without sleeping, to be able to provide solutions to numerous challenges confronting the nation.
Again, we are worried that the ministerial list is being presented piecemeal. The constitution of Nigeria clearly states that at least a minister must be appointed from each of the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
The Electoral Act as amended also stipulates that a list containing the ministerial nominees must be sent to the Senate within 60 days from the day of commencement of a government for screening and confirmation.
But what we witnessed was a hurriedly prepared list that excluded nominations from about 10 states in clear violation of the laws of the land.
Sixty days is quite a lengthy period for any serious government to form its executive team. This development appears even more ridiculous because we know that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has struggled to be president for over two decades and therefore should have been able by now to identify and have a solid team selected across the country that is qualified to hold ministerial positions. But this has not happened,” the statement added.
