Cover Story:
Buhari Wins Disputed Presidential Election

At last President Buhari unfolds his ministers, with admixture of old and new faces


Fifty six days after his inauguration on May 29, for the second term as President and Commander-in-Chief of the country’s Armed Forces, President Muhamadu Buhari unfolded the list of his cabinet made up of 43 eminent Nigerians on July 23.

The list came earlier than his first term team which took him almost six months to constitute his cabinet, a development that drew much criticisms from Nigerians and even the international community. Among those that made the list were 14 who are making their debut in President Buhari’s cabinet , while the former Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh and Minister of Internal Affairs in the last dispensation, Abdularahaman Dambazau were the most notable casualties. President Buhari tried to be gender sensitive in the composition of his cabinet, as he increased the number of females from six in the last dispensation to seven. The female ministers at the beginning of President Buhari’s first tenure were Amina Mohammed, Gombe, Zainab Ahmed, Kaduna, Kemi Adeosun, Ogun, Aisha Abubakar, Sokoto; Aisha Alhassan, Taraba and Khadija Bukar Ibrahim, Yobe. Worthy of note is the fact that out of the six female ministers, only Zainab Ahmed and Aisha Abubakar stayed till the end of the first tenure of the President. The four others left at different times for various reasons.

Significantly 14 ministers who served in the first tenure of President Buhari made their return. Notable among them are Rotimi Amaechi, from Rivers and Babatunde Fashola, Lagos, who served as minister of Power, Works and Housing; Lai Mohammed who served in the first tenure as Minister of Information, and Chris Ngige, Anambra who served in the Labour and Employment Ministry. The rest are: Mohammed Musa Bello, Adamawa, who held FCT portfolio; Adamu Adamu, Bauchi, Education; Mustapha Baba Shehuri, Borno minister of state for Power , Works and Housing ; Ogbonnaya Onu, Ebonyi; Science and Technology; Osagie Ehanire, Edo, Health; Geoffrey Onyeama, Enugu, Foreign Affairs; Suleiman Adamu, Jigawa, Water Resources; Zainab Ahmed, Kaduna, who held the finance portfolio.

Among the new ministers, Godswill Akpabio, who was a governor of Akwa Ibom state and Rauf Aregbesola who was the immediate past governor of Osun state topped the list. Other notable figures on the list are George Akume, who served as governor and later as senator from Benue state; Timipre Sylva, who was a governor of Bayelsa state; Gbemi Saraki, younger sister of immediate past Senate President, Olusola Saraki; a notable lawyer and Buhari’s campaign director, Festus Keyamo, SAN and a former minister under the PDP administrations, Paullen Tallen.

Among those that did not make the list from Buhari’s first tenure were Okechukwu Enelemah, Abia ,Trade and Industry; Udo Udo Udoma, Akwa Ibom; Budget and National Planning; Heineken Lokpobiri Bayelsa, who served as minister of state for Agriculture; Usani Uguru, Uguru, Cross River, Niger Delta Affairs; Ibe Kachikwu, from Delta Minister of state for Petroleum; Anthony Anwuka; Solomon Dalung, Plateau, who was in charge of Sports; Adebayo Shittu, Oyo, who was in charge of Communications; and Isaac Adewale, Osun, who was in charge of Health. To underscore the smooth relationship between the legislative arm of the government now fully controlled by loyalists of the president, the Senate went into the screening of the nominees before going on recess. Meanwhile while some Nigerians especially those in government circle have hailed the list, others have been quite critical of those that made it into the list, especially the inclusion of Adamu Adamu who served in the Education Ministry and the FCT helmsman, Musa Bello Adamu. Their services were rated by critics “un-inspiring.” Speaking in a similar vein, the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, described the list presented to the Senate as “colourless, stagnant and uninspiring”.

The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said it was strange that the list did not create space for the youths, whom he said the future belongs. The party said it was with chagrin and utter disappointment of Nigerians that the list was replete with “incompetent individuals who failed in their erstwhile ministerial assignments and left their ministries in a shamble. If indeed President Buhari and the APC mean well for Nigerians and are interested in revamping our critical sectors, they would not have ended up with the list of those who will help conceal the huge corruption in the Buhari administration in the last four years, as well as those who will assist in channeling funds to individuals and groups used by APC to rig the 2019 presidential election.”

See the full list of ministers:

Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah (Abia State)

Mohammed Musa Bello (Adamawa State) re-appointed

Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom State)

Chris Ngige (Anambra State) re-appointed

Sharon Ikeazor (Anambra State)

Adamu Adamu (Bauchi State) re-appointed

Ambassador Maryam Katagun (Bauchi State)

Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa State)

George Akume (Benue State)

Mustapha Baba Shehuri (Borno State) re-appointed

Goddy Jedy Agba (Cross River State)

Festus Keyamo (Delta State)

Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi State) re-appointed

Osagie Ehanire (Edo State) re-appointed

Clement Ike (Edo State)

Richard Adeniyi Adebayo (Ekiti State)

Geoffrey Onyeama (Enugu State) re-appointed

Ali Isa Pantami (Gombe State)

Emeka Nwajiuba (Imo State)

Suleiman Adamu (Jigawa State)

Zainab Ahmed (Kaduna State) re-appointed

Muhammad Mahmood (Kaduna State)

Sabo Nanono (Kano State)

Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi (Kano State)

Hadi Sirika (Katsina State) re-appointed

Abubakar Malami (Kebbi State) re-appointed

Ramatu Tijjani (Kogi State)

Lai Mohammed (Kwara State)

Gbemisola Saraki (Kwara State)

Babatunde Fashola (Lagos State) re-appointed

Adeleke Mamora (Lagos State)

Mohammed H. Abdullahi (Nasarawa State)

Zubair Dada (Niger State)

Olamilekan Adegbite (Ogun State)

Tayo Alasoadura (Ondo State)

Rauf Aregbesola (Osun State)

Sunday Dare (Oyo State)

Paulen Talen (Plateau State)

Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers State)

Maigarai Dingyadi (Sokoto State)

Sale Mamman (Taraba State)

Abubakar D. Aliyu (Yobe State)

Sadiya Umar Faruk (Zamfara State)