Buhari sends names of two ministerial nominees to the upper chamber

President Muhammadu Buhari has sent names of two nominees for ministerial post from Kogi and Gombe states to the Assembly

The new ministerial candidates from Kogi and Gombe states would correspondingly replace the late Ocholi and Mrs Mohammed.

President Buhari has sent two ministerial nominees to the Senate as substitutes for the late Mr James Enojo Ocholi (SAN) and Mrs Amina Mohammed.

Buhari’s cabinet became short of two ministers after James Enojo Ocholi died in an accident in March 2016 and Amina Mohammed was appointed as UN deputy secretary-general in December 2016.

The president forward the names of the two ministerial nominees to the Senate on Tuesday night March 28, This Day reports.

Though, the identities of the two nominees could not be confirmed at the media time, a source from the presidency established that the letter had been sent to Senate president, Bukola Saraki, whois expected to read the president’s message on the recommendations at plenary on Wednesday, March 29.

According to the Presidency’s source, the nominees who are from Kogi and Gombe states would respectively be replacing the late Ocholi, Mrs Mohammed.

The source also stated that a cabinet restructuring was forthcoming and would may likely take place in the next few weeks after the confirmation of the two nominees by the Senate.

The source said: “After the screening and confirmation of the two nominees from Kogi and Gombe States, Mr. President would most likely reshuffle his cabinet to accommodate the new ministers and move others where he thinks they are better suited.

“As you know, 34 of his ministers have been in the cabinet for almost 18 months, which has enabled the president to assess their strengths and weaknesses.

“On this basis, he would move some of them around to reengineer the cabinet and get the ministers cracking on delivering on the promises made by the administration to the Nigerian people."

Meanwhile, Tellforceblog.com has reported that the Nigerian Senators were angry on Tuesday, March 28, 2017 and threatened to discard all list of appointees that President Muhammadu Buhari sends to them for confirmation.

The legislators, in protest, stood down the administrative request of the President for the endorsement of a list of 27 regional executives of Independent National Electoral Commission.

The lawmakers are annoyed that President Buhari is holding on to the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Ibrahim Magu despite being rejected by the senate.

Another reason for the anger was the comments made by the president's close aide Professor Itse Sagay, who noted that confirmation by the Senate was just a 'mere' duty.