Ministerial List: Tinubu Bars 3 Ex-Govs, Other visitors From Aso Rock

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reportedly requested for two days not to receive any visitors at the State House in Abuja.

According to The report, the president has cleared his activities for Tuesday and Wednesday as he tries to review and finalise his ministerial list.

This means frequent visitors to the Villa like former governors; Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state, Bello Muhammad Matawalle of Zamfara; Nyesom Wike of Rivers and others won’t get access to see the president if need be till Thursday, July 27, 2023.

The president who was sworn in on May 29, 2023, has till Friday, July 28, to submit the list to the senate in line with section 42(a) of the constitution which states that “the nomination of any person to the office of a Minister for confirmation by the Senate shall be done within sixty days after the date the President has taken the oath of office”.

It was gathered that even though most of the nominations are settled, there are states posing a challenge because of the candidates. It was also said that many of his associates are in the dark over the final list.

The president is a chess player. He keeps most of his decisions to himself till the last point,” a presidency official said.

There was a lot of speculation last week that the list had been sent to the senate but the upper chamber of the national assembly did not, as customary, discuss it.

It was learnt that the imminent nomination of Abdullahi Ganduje, former governor of Kano state, as the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is one of the gaps Tinubu is trying to fill.

Ganduje had been pencilled down as a minister but the forced resignation of Adamu Abdullahi as chairman led to further adjustments to the list.

The nomination of Nyesom Wike, Rivers state former gover as minister is said to be a concern for the president as many in the party claimed it is not ideal for an oppostion memeber to be among executive council.

Wike was confirmed to have worked for the emergence of Tinubu as president against the candidate of his party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar. He and other aggrieved members known as G5-governors wanted the seat to be zoned to the south which the party but the party opposed their view.

Meanwhile, Bashir Ahmad, a digital communications aide to former President Muhammadu Buhari on his official Twitter handle, on Monday night, July 24, 2023, said the list will be out today, Tuesday, July 25, 2023.

He noted that the controversial list would be announced at the Senate on Tuesday’s plenary, provided there was no last-minute change.

“Barring any last-minute change, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu‘s much-anticipated ministerial nominees’ list will be announced by the Senate tomorrow, Tuesday,” he tweeted.