In defiance of President Muhammadu Buhari’s earlier declaration that governors will not be given the opportunity to nominate his ministers, Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has requested for an opportunity to nominate an Ekiti State indigene for appointment into the anticipated Federal Executive Council.
Recall that Fayose was one of Buhari’s biggest opponents in the build-up to the March 28 presidential election, telling journalists to mark his words that Buhari will not win the election. He further sponsored an advert which was highly criticized as a death wish on the then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
But making the request in a statement issued yesterday, the governor disclosed that he had written to Buhari about it and was hopeful that the President’s reply would be favourable.
In his words, “I shall be happy to nominate a worthy and competent professional, who can always oblige Your Excellency and your cabinet the benefit of a second opinion in the serious business of governance.”
Fayose noted that he was led to write the letter on the basis of the President’s declaration that he would put the overall interest of the country above every political partisanship and bias.
He noted that even former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, appointed the late Chief Bola Ige as the Minister for Justice, not minding that Ige was at the time a chief of the opposition Alliance for Democracy, AD.
The Governor also predicated his letter on the strength of Section 147 sub (2) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which states: (2) Any appointment to the office of the Minister of the government of the Federation shall, if the nomination of any such person to such office is confirmed by the Senate, be made by the President. (3) Any appointment under sub-section (2) of this section by the President shall be in conformity with the provision of section 15 (3) of this constitution provided that in giving effect to the provision aforesaid, the President shall appoint at least one Minister from each state, who shall be an indigene of such state.
The statement noted that Ekiti is a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, state, where the governor, the National Assembly and the state Assembly members are all PDP members.
He then stressed that in the spirit of putting in place an all-inclusive government with capacity for national integration, the President should accord him the honour and privilege to name the minister that would come from Ekiti State.
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