President Muhammadu Buhari says he will not appoint as
ministers individuals he does not know, suggesting that the last set of
ministers he had during his first term was imposed on him.
In a late-night meeting with the leadership of the National
Assembly, Buhari also said only tested and capable individuals who can deliver
on their mandates will make his ministerial list.
“Many at this dinner meeting are saying they want to see the
list of the proposed cabinet so that they can go on live peacefully.
“I’m very much aware about it. I’m under tremendous pressure
on it. But the last cabinet which I headed, most of them, the majority of them
I didn’t know them. I had to accept the names and recommendations from the
party and other individuals.
“I worked with them for three and half years at least –
meeting twice or two weeks in a month. So I know them.
“But, this time around I’m going to be quiet me – me in the
sense that I will pick people I personally know,’’ he said.
At the meeting held at the new Banquet Hall of the
Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday, President Buhari said he was under
intense pressure to constitute the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Despite the pressure, he reiterated that only those with
track records, honesty and credibility would be appointed.
He, therefore, enjoined the lawmakers to partner the
executive arm in leaving good legacies for the country as his administration
was on its last lap.
The president advised the National Assembly to always avoid
comparing their parliamentary procedures with that of advanced democracies such
as the United States and the United Kingdom.
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, who spoke to State
House correspondents after the meeting, refuted media report quoting him as
saying that President Buhari would submit the ministerial list to the senate
this week.
He said: “Let me take
the opportunity to correct that. A senator raised a point of order under
personal explanation.
“He said we should be sent the list of the ministers by the
executive arm of government and in my response I said the executive is working
so hard to ensure that the list of Nigerians that will help this administration
work is going to be transmitted and we could even receive it this week.
“’We could’ is conditional and I will urge everybody here to
report it as it is,” he said.
Others at the meeting included the Deputy Senate President
Ovie Omo-Agege; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila
and the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase.
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress
(APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and other presidential aides also attended the
meeting.
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