Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, a former governor of Edo State, and Amb. Musa Mohammed, a career ambassador from Taraba State, may be included on the ministerial list that will be presented to the National Assembly for screening this week or at the latest next week, barring any last-minute changes.
Two of the three candidates—Osunbor and Mohammed—come from one of the political parties that supported President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the presidential vote on February 25.
According to reports, the political organisation, Elites Coalition for Good Governance, which has Senator George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, as its national leader, has recommended three individuals for ministerial positions.
The third person nominated was Adebayo Shittu, a former Minister of Communications under President Muhammadu Buhari, from Oyo State, but his nomination appears to be problematic, as the state governor, Seyi Makinde, was said to have been given the mandate to nominate someone.
It would be recalled that Governor Makinde was one of the G-5 (Integrity Group) governors who worked against their party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in the February 25 presidential election.
Former Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State were also members of the G-5 Governors.
It was reported that Makinde and Wike worked for the All Progressives Congress, APC’s then-presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
A source close to the Elites Coalition for Good Governance, which was known as the Northern Elites Coalition for Good Governance before the election, told Vanguard that the three names had been submitted as ministerial nominees.
The source claims that Northern Elites Coalition for Good Governance was modelled after the organisation known as “House-to-House” with the goal of involving the public in governance.
He explained that “House-to-House” was created to inform people of their duties, including the right to inquire of their leaders and the fact that they had the right to be informed of what their leaders were up to.
“We were employed by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Our nation’s president was the current Secretary to the Government of the Federation (Senator George) Akume, along with Ambassador Musa Muhammed from Jigawa State, Prof. Osunbor from Edo State, a former governor, and Adebayo Shittu, a former minister of communication. In fact, we normally hold our meetings in his (Shittu’s) house.
Three of our members have been tipped for ministerial positions. Prof. Osunbor, Musa Mohammed and Shittu. I don’t think his own (Shittu) will sail through, but we are still praying.”
The statement continues, “All the state coordinators from all the northern states and the southwest nominated the three persons, and we asked our national executive to push it through.”
According to the source, Osunbor campaigned for Tinubu, adding that immediately after the election “we now changed it to Elites Coalition for Good Governance.”
