President Buhari Speaks Out On Cabinet and Saraki

President Muhammadu Buhari has in an exclusive interview with ARISE News, a THISDAY sister television network, said that he was in no hurry to appoint ministers to his cabinet, wondering why there was so much anxiety over the make up of his cabinet. Buhari, who met on Sunday night with the ARISE team after the dinner held for the heads of government attending the African Union (AU) summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, among other issues, also spoke on the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as the Senate president, stating that it was up to the members of the National Assembly to sort out the division created from the election that threw up the former Kwara governor as leader of the federal legislature. On the announcement of his cabinet, he said: “I don’t know why people are so anxious for the ministers. But eventually we will have them. “The main reason is that I had a Transition Committee which I agreed with former President Goodluck Jonathan that the ministers of the outgone government should handover their notes and documents to this Transition Committee so that we could be prepared.” On Bukola Saraki, Buhari said that it was left to members of the National Assembly to sort out any division that has arisen following the election of the former Kwara governor as Senate president. Drawing an analogy between the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and last week’s election in the National Assembly, he said: “For example, when we came to our party’s primary for the presidential election, four of us stood (in the primary). There was no problem because it is part of the system. I happened to win and they agreed there and then that we should all work for the party. But unfortunately, in this National Assembly, there was a division. So it’s up to them (legislators) to sort it out.” Throwing more light on the decision reached by his party to present consensus candidates for the leadership of the National Assembly before his inauguration, he said: “There is a system in the National Assembly – the House of Representatives and the Senate – they have got their own criteria for choosing their leaders.” The president also ordered the release of $21 million (N4.16 billion) out of the $100 million pledged by Nigeria to the Multi-national Joint Task Force (MNJTF) set up by Nigeria, Republic of Benin, Cameroun, Chad and Niger against the terror group. Buhari, who announced the directive while chairing the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) meeting at the weekend in Johannesburg, said the order should be carried out in a week. He said the order was in response to the decision by the leaders of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and Benin in Abuja to immediately fund the MNJTF with not less than $30 million.         Source: ThisDay Newspaper

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This article was first published on 15th June 2015

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