The first casualty in the war between the two politicians was the former Lagos state commissioner for finance and a nominee of Tinubu into the cabinet, Wale Edun.
New Telegraph reports that Edun, who Tinubu had suggested to Buhari as minister of finance, has been overlooked despite being screened by the security service.
He is to be replaced by the former Lagos state commissioner for budget and economic planning, Yemi Cardoso, as a Lagos representative in the cabinet.
Edun’s problems began when a group of powerful Lagos natives, comprising traditional rulers and some of his counterparts that served in the Tinubu government, protested against him being chosen as a Lagos state ministerial nominee.
Obasanjo, together with Ibikunle Amosun, the Ogun state governor, also opposed Tinubu’s decision to ensure Edun became the Ogun state appointee.
The former president reportedly called Tinubu and urged him to stop pushing Edun as the Ogun state nominee. He was said to have cautioned that Ogun people would not let Tinubu fill the slot of the state with somebody whose work and career were rooted in Lagos state.
Obasanjo purportedly quoted the example of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, from Ogun state, whom Tinubu nominated as vice president, continuing that he considered Osinbajo to be more of a Lagosian than an indigene of Ogun state.
Obasanjo and Amosun have decided to give the state’s slot in the cabinet to a former PDP national auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha. Insiders said the two recent visits of Obasanjo to Buhari in Abuja were first to submit his ministerial list and for further discussions.
Appointees of the former president in Buhari’s cabinet comprise the former Osun state governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun); the former governor of Ekiti state and now the deputy national chairman (South) of the APC, Chief Segun Oni (Ekiti); Mustapha (Ogun), the former minister of education, Oby Ezekwesili and the erstwhile governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.
The source further said: “Tinubu and Akande’s visit to President Buhari on September 9 was an impromptu meeting. An influential official in the presidency told them of Obasanjo’s surreptitious moves to corner the ministerial nominees from the South-West. This is why the two leaders visited.”
At the meeting with Buhari, Tinubu and Akande purportedly told the Nigerian leader that south-west APC leaders would not accept a situation in which Obasanjo chooses those who become ministers.
However, Tinubu and Akande did not confront the choice of Oyinlola as a minister representing Osun state.
“It was a moral issue. Obasanjo is not a member of the APC and cannot appropriate the positions of the zone to himself. The South-West leaders have been meeting for two months on the ministerial nominee, only for Obasanjo to sit in Ota and draw up a ministerial list. That is why the leaders kicked against the idea.
“That will be killing the party in the South-West. He can’t be an alternate APC. Obasanjo should be respected as a leader, but he can’t hijack what belongs to the region.
“On Obasanjo’s ministerial list, former Governor Oyinlola featured just as his name featured from the list submitted from the state. There was no resistance to Oyinlola’s nominee because that was part of the agreement before his defection from the PDP to the APC. The party has fulfilled one leg of the agreement by ceding the senatorial slot to Senator Isiaka Adeleke who also defected from PDP to the APC,” a significant member of the APC said.
The source added that based on Tinubu’s grievance, the president pledged to look into the issue.
As it is, Obasanjo has been given two ministerial posts of Ogun and Osun – Mustapha and Oyinlola – while Tinubu and south-west leaders will fill the four other posts left in the geopolitical zone.
One of the insiders said President Buhari, who had vowed to form his cabinet by September 30, will submit the ministerial list to the National Assembly next week either before his trip to New York on Tuesday to attend the United Nations conference, or on his return from the trip.
The DSS has screened ministerial nominees and forwarded its report to the president.
Those who failed the integrity test have been replaced. Buhari had settled for Rotimi Amaechi, the former Rivers state governor as the appointee from the state, despite opposition against his candidacy from top officials of the PDP administration in the state.
The former presidential aspirant and famous economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, is the likely appointee of Delta state.
The former governor of Kano state and now a senator, Rabiu Kwankwaso, is likely to be appointed to the Buhari cabinet.
Although a former chief of Army Staff, Gen. Abdurahman Dambazzau, who is being pushed as the next Minister of Defence, has been screened, one of the sources said he might be given another position.
“The president is considering having a civilian as his Minister of Defence. The basis for this is that there is always a friction between the service chiefs and the minister of defence with a military background. Don’t forget that the president is a retired general. So, if Kwankwaso makes it to the cabinet, he may end up as defence minister having held the portfolio before,” the source said.
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