Before the arrival of the ministerial list, some key APC members were speculated to be on it. However, when the names where announced, their names were nowhere to be found.
Here is a list of 6 technocrats who were surprisingly left out of the list.
- Pat Utomi
Professor Pat Utomi who hails from Igbuzo in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State was born February 6, 1956 in Kaduna State. He is a Nigerian professor of political economy and management expert.
Utomi had been prominently mentioned in the media as one of the technocrats who would be appointed minister by Buhari. Utomi is highly regarded in business and politics as a man of high intellect and honesty. He is an advocate of a more ethical politics. He is the founder of Centre for Value in Leadership (CVL) and was the presidential candidate of the lesser-known African Democratic Congress Party in the 2003 and 2007 presidential elections. He joined the APC in 2014.
2. Abike Dabiri
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, former member of the Nigeria Federal House of Representatives, Ikorodu Constituency in Lagos State was born October 10, 1962 in Jos, Plateau to the family of Alhaji and Alhaja Ashafa Erogbogbo of Ikorodu, a political family.
She has a career in journalism having practised for fifteen years, anchoring the weekly NTA Newsline programme before retiring to join politics.She is the brain behind Parliamentary passage of the Freedom of Information Bill into Law.
She played a very huge role in the APC’s presidential campaign, serving as compere of most of the events and provided the feminine voice on several issues. She also threw herself into the presidential campaign and it is no exaggeration to say that no woman campaigned more vigorously for the APC than she did.
3. Obiageli Ezekwesili
She effectively led the #BringBackOurGirls campaign to global fame and many believed the actions of the group caused irreparable damage to Jonathan, which contributed greatly to his defeat at the polls.
Ezekwesili has a solid reputation as an incorruptible and efficient administrator as well as an ardent critic of the Goodluck Jonathan administration. She was also touted as a would-be minister in the new government. Her closeness to Obasanjo was thought to be an additional advantage, coupled with the fact that she was considered a technocrat, a criteria Buhari said he would consider paramount in choosing ministers.
She served as Federal Minister of Solid Minerals and then as Federal Minister of Education during the second-term presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo. She also served as the Vice-President of the World’s Bank’s Africa division from May 2007 to May 2012.
4. Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso
Rabiu Kwankwaso was born on 21 October 1956 in Kwankwaso village of Madobi Local Government Area of Kano State.
He was elected Governor of Kano State from 1999–2003 and again from 2011–2015. In 2015, he however contested the presidential election but lost in the primary election to Muhammadu Buhari. He successfully contested the senatorial election to represent Kano State Central Senatorial District
Kwankwaso was subsequently appointed as the Minister of Defense during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration in 2003 and was reelected for a second term as Kano state Governor on 26 April 2011.
5. Femi Falana
Human Rights Activist, respected Lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana was born May 20, 1958 in in Ilawe Ekiti in Ekiti State.
In 1991, he started his own Chambers, Femi Falana, which later became Falana and Falana Chambers, with his wife Funmi coming on board as a partner.
Although he was not a public supporter of APC, Falana was speculated as one of the would-be ministers. Falana’s nomination was being pushed by Bola Tinunu, the former governor of Lagos State and leader of the APC in the Southwest. Falana lost the Ekiti slot to Kayode Fayemi, former Governor of the state, who played prominent role in the APC presidential campaign as its Director of Policy and Strategy, who has been nominated and cleared as minister.
Falana is renowned for providing free legal services to the poor and disadvantaged and had suffered long spells in detention under Nigeria’s past military dictators.
6. Bolaji Abdullahi
For Bolaji Abdullahi, former minister of sports, lightning has struck twice in his political career as his name is prominently missing from the list of ministerial nominees sent by President Muhammadu Buhari to the senate. Favoured by the stalwarts of the Kwara state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to be the ministerial nominee from the state, Abdullahi was overlooked by Buhari in favour of Lai Mohammed, the party’s national publicity secretary.
Lightning first struck in March 2014 when Abdullahi was removed as minister by President Goodluck Jonathan months after Bukola Saraki, who nominated him, defected to APC as crisis rocked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the formation of the new PDP. The second lightning has struck — again on the account of Saraki’s estrangement from Buhari following his decision to contest for senate president against the preference of the president and many senior APC figures.
The Kwara State born Journalist turned minister was born in 1969. He attended one of Nigeria’s leading universities, the University of Lagos, Akoka-Lagos where he graduated with a B.Sc. Second Class Upper degree, in Mass Communication.
Abdullahi was appointed as the Minister of Youth and Sports Development during Jonathan’s administration in July 2011.
The post Six Key Technocrats Buhari Left Out Of His Ministerial List appeared first on KokoFeed - Nigerian News For The Young Generation.
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