Tinubu’s New Ministerial List Breaches Federal Character Principle – Ozekhome

A Constitutional lawyer, Prof Mike Ozekhome, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has faulted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s new list of ministerial nominees, saying it completely breached the Federal Character principle.

He specifically said that the tokenism was too little and too late coming because many of the ministers have performed abysmally, adding that even the surgical operation said to have been carried out with the ministries did not have any major positive impact as it was more like cosmetic window dressing.

Ozekhome pointedly said that in all, there was really nothing to celebrate as Nigerians expected major changes but, were so disappointed as nothing changed, saying that there is a difference between motion and progress.

He particularly accused President Tinubu of sustaining the legacy of former President Muhammadu Buhari as it regards the non-compliance with the laws governing federal appointments to promote national unity and social justice.

Ozekhome, who stated these in a telephone interview with The Guardian newspaper, however, commended the President for bringing all the development commissions in the country under one ministry.

He further said; “Throughout the Buhari time, I critiqued Buhari for being prebendalistic, cronystic, sectionalistic and tribalistic in his appointments, which were tilted towards the North and towards Muslims. I do not think that President Tinubu has gone away from that method of appointments based on these same rejected factors.

“If you look at the new appointments, three new ministers are directly from Ogun State, the same state that already produced the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun; meaning that in a country of 236 million people by United Nations projection, a country that has 36 states and 774 local councils, Ogun State, which is actually one of the smallest states in Nigeria, has four ministers while some big ones may just have a minister of state.

“This action of Mr President is contrary to the provisions of Section 14 (1) and Section 14 (3) of the constitution. They are also contrary to the provisions of Section 153 of the constitution and Section 7 (1) of the Third Schedule, Part One, to the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.

“All these sections deal with Federal Character and the need for Nigeria to be a state based on the principles of democracy and social justice; the need for the composition of the government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs to be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria, thereby promoting national unity and also commanding national loyalty and ensuring that there shall be no predominant of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in the government or in any of its agencies.

“The new appointment list has wantonly breached these sections. Not only that, what I saw is a situation where even the surgical operation done to the ministries did not have any major positive impact. It was more like cosmetic window dressing.

“It is only in the ministry of Niger Delta that I believe that the President did a good job when he decided to bring together the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), North East Development Commission, South East Development Commission and South West Development Commission under the Ministry of Regional Development.

“That means that all those parastatals which are themselves money guzzling and income draining pipes have been collapsed into just one ministry. Also, scrapping the ministry of sports and making sure that all its functions are transferred to the National Sports Commission is commendable.