Trouble Looms for Buhari at the Senate following ministerial appointments

Some leaders of the All Progressive Congress, APC, have said there was nothing to suggest that the party is being carried along in President Muhammadu Buhari's upcoming appointment of ministers.

This follows National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie Oyegun's assertion that the leadership of his party would henceforth insist on ‘’party’s supremacy’’ and be fully involved in subsequent appointments by the president.

However, reports suggest otherwise. 

‘’We read in the newspapers like every other Nigerian that President Muhammadu Buhari promised to appoint his ministers this month of September. But we, the leaders of the party are in the dark over the process; the president is not talking to us,” a member of the NWC of the party according to THISDAY said.

The APC chieftain warned that the president may have difficulty getting his ministers confirmed by the Senate if leaders of the party are not carried along.

‘’I am sure the president knows the huge political implications of not carrying leaders of our party along in his ongoing efforts to appoint his ministers. I can tell you confidently that the ministerial list will not pass through the Senate,” the APC source added.

A former governor in one of the northern states and now senator also said "the president would be signing the death warrant of the APC if he choses not to carry the party along in his appointment of minsters.

However, a presidential official said though the President Buhari once indicated his desire to solely appoint his ministers, that position has since changed.

‘’Yes, the president once turned down the governors’ nominees for the ministerial positions. But I was in a meeting recently when governors and leaders of the APC met with the president and he promised to carry them along in the process,” the presidential source stated.

THISDAY