Two former governors of Lagos, Babatunde Raji Fashola and Akinwunmi Ibidapo Ambode, may make the ministerial list of President Muhammadu Buhari’s four-year second tenure, BusinessDay learnt on Monday.
President Buhari is said to be putting the final list of the ministerial nominees together ahead of the resumption of the Nigerian Senate from its two-week recess. A source said the list of the nominees may be ready by July 2.
As constitutionally required, the president is expected to send the list of the ministerial nominees to the senate for screening and confirmation.
BusinessDay gathered that while President Buhari is keen at reappointing Fashola into his cabinet, some powerful groups in the North and within the presidency are making a case for Ambode, as a compensation for his rejection by the All Progress Congress (APC) in Lagos.
Fashola served in the first four-year tenure of Buhari, as a three-pronged minister, combining the ministries of power, works and housing, in what some pundits had believed was a recognition of his ‘superlative’ performance as governor (2007-2015) and the critical role he played in the packaging of Buhari for the top job prior in 2015. Recall that Fashola was chairman of the fund-raising committee of the Buhari presidential campaign prior to the 2015 general elections.
In the 2019 presidential election, Fashola, again, played a key role in the mobilisation of voters from Lagos, in what was tagged “5,000 Foot Soldiers for Buhari”.
Ambode on the other hand, apart from his role in mobilising support for the president as the sitting governor of Lagos, is being considered having lost out in his quest to return to Government House at Alausa. Ambode lost the APC governorship ticket to the incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who had the backing of the APC leadership in Lagos.
It was learnt that some interest groups and powerful individuals, including some northern governors closer to the presidency, whose efforts to convince the Lagos APC to allow Ambode do a second term, met brick walls, are making case for the former governor, who shunned the inauguration of his successor in office, on May 29.
While Fashola may return to continue representing Lagos slot in the federal cabinet, Ambode is said to be considered for the Southwest slot, it was gathered.
