Buhari cages Tinubu over plots to stop Ambode’s ministerial appointment

President Muhammadu Buhari has adopted a nomination process that will make it difficult and impossible for anybody to obstruct the nomination of former Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State for ministerial appointment except the entire senators so decide, National Daily reports. This was done in the midst of the Cold War which has been lingering between the President and the All Progressives Congress (APC) national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who have maintained latent disharmony of interests in the ruling party over the years.

Sources from the Presidency revealed to National Daily that President Buhari having received reports on the nominees he is sending to the Senate for screening and confirmation, including reports on the environment of the nominees, made certain adjustments to forestall impediment or obstruction of the confirmation process by any political bloc or godfather.

Some APC stakeholders have expressed the view former Governor Ambode has become a critical factor in Buhari/Tinubu political relations since the 2019 general elections. In the buildup to the elections, the Lagos State APC was involved in mild crisis over the decision to stop Ambode from picking the party’s governorship ticket to seek re-election for a second tenure. The intervention and appeal of President Buhari, who held a personal meeting with Tinubu, could not save former Governor Ambode. That episode has gone into the annals of history of Lagos State politics, including the party politics of the ruling APC.

In the post-election period, the former Lagos State Governor is being widely conceived to be one of the ministerial nominees on the appointment list of the president yet to be submitted to the Senate for confirmation. There has also been the innuendo that the godfather of Lagos politics, Tinubu, is also allegedly out to lead the state APC to frustrate the political appointment of Ambode.

National Daily investigations revealed that a lot of calculations have been put on the chess board of the godfather and the Presidency. There have been arguments how Lagos will have two slots for ministerial appointments. However, there are indications that the President has the discretionary powers to make such decision.

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Then, the godfather is being suspected to be working out strategy to use the Lagos State lawmakers in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly to halt the screening and confirmation of Ambode when the ministerial nominees list gets to the Senate for consideration. National Daily learned that the three senators representing Lagos State in the National Assembly have been allegedly directed to unanimously reject Ambode’s nomination on the floor of the senate. The consensus opposition may be the end or lead to the suspension of the former governor’s confirmation for the cabinet appointment.

The Lagos Senators took this action when former APC National Legal Adviser, Muiz Banire, was nominated for appointment as AMCON Managing Director by President Buhari who then sent his name to the Senate for screening and confirmation before he would resume duty. The opposition of the three senators from Lagos ‘put on hold’ the confirmation of Banire who was known to have had open crisis with APC leaders in Lagos State, including challenging the dominance of Tinubu in the State Party and Government.

National Daily recalls that Banire, thereafter, made a statement, warming that no dynasty lasts forever.

Banire, however, joined the battle to stop Ambode from picking the APC ticket for a second term in Lagos State; this, perhaps, provided relief of seeming reconciliation or forgiveness. The three APC senators from Lagos, then, withdrew their opposition to Banire’s nomination; his appointment by the President was then confirmed as the MD of AMCON.

National Daily learned that apparently, the precedent is there and President Buhari is not in doubt of the political prowess of Tinubu. The cold war deepens, the game keeps changing pattern.

Presidency sources further disclosed to National Daily that President Buhari has, therefore, created a special status for the nomination of Ambode into his new cabinet to be communicated to the senate for confirmation. The sources said that the President has moved Ambode from being a nominee of Lagos State to a nominee of the south west. Thus, Ambode will be appearing on the list as a south west ministerial nominee. Thus, the three Lagos senators cannot influence the decision on Ambode’s screening and confirmation by the senate. To do that, they will need to mobilize the entire senators. Invariably, President Buhari was perceived to have paralysed the ‘conspirators’ even before they start the covert battle.

Moreover, other plots, which were identified to include corruption petitions, were also said to have been taken care of by the presidency. Again, precedence shows that it was not effective when used against former Governor Babatunde Fashola in 2015. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had maintained pacific silence on the petition against the former Lagos State Governor even after his confirmation by the senate.

In the ultimate denouement, President Buhari was said to have overwhelmed all plots to forestall the ministerial appointment of Ambode in the new Federal Executive Council (FEC), without threatening or eliminating Fashola from the team.