President Tinubu Appointed Those Who Should Be In Jail As Ministers – Ex-APC Spokesperson

A former National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Yekini Nabena has expressed disappointment with President Bola Tinubu’s choice of Ministerial nominees.

According to Nabena, Tinubu got it completely wrong with his ministerial nominees.

According to him, some of the nominees are people who should be in jail as they have no business whatsoever in government.

Speaking during an interview with Sunday Sun, the APC chieftain noted that the calibre of persons Tinubu put together during his tenure as the Lagos State Governor are far superior to those he assembled as ministers.

Nabena described most of the President’s ministerial nominees as desperate politicians who don’t want to leave the corridors of power. He added that some of the nominees are failed Governors who have nothing to offer at the federal level.

In his words, “I want to put on record that I am still a member of APC till tomorrow, but as a member of the party, I will tell you that I am disappointed with the calibre of persons President Tinubu assembled.

“President Tinubu has always boasted about the quality of persons he assembled as the governor of Lagos State. And you can truly see how they have been nurtured to become influential leaders. But as far as the capacity of the people he assembled as ministers are concerned, he got it completely wrong.

“Yes, I know he has no choice because he cannot wish them away since they worked for his victory in their various states, especially the governors. The fact that politics has become the only business they know how to do, he cannot shut them out because they want to perpetually be in the corridors of power.

“I have always said that Lagos State cannot be the same as the whole country because some of his political allies are equally powerful persons in their states. At the national level, there are desperate politicians that don’t want to leave the corridors of power.

“What I thought Asiwaju would have done was to massage their influence by telling them to nominate persons that can do the work as compensation to them for what they did to ensure he won the election. It is disappointing seeing him nominate mostly past governors. People are angry that he went for former governors. Some of them are governors that failed in their states. Almost 90 per cent of the governors Tinubu appointed minister failed their people in the state. They have nothing to offer at the federal level.”

Circle Of Failure

Speaking further, Nabena expressed fear that most of the nominees who have failed at lower levels would still continue the cycle of failure at the federal level.

He lamented further that some of the former Governors might also find it difficult to take orders as they would still have the mentality of being in charge.

He said: “What will even anger Nigerians more is that these failed governors are coming with the same crop of persons they worked with in their states to the national level. I have the feeling that the circle of failure will continue at the federal level because the governors are coming with the same mentality of doing things.

Another fear is that they are coming with the same in-charge mentality and if they don’t strike a balance, there will be a conflict of interest very soon. It is certainly going to take some time for those governors that were hitherto lords in their states to adjust from being the king of the jungle in their states to the reality that they will be taking orders from a superior authority now.”

They Should Be In Jail

The APC chieftain submitted that some of the former Governors who are now ministerial nominees should be in jail due to how they mismanaged their state’s resources while in power.

He added that some of the Ministers might be the ones to prevent President Tinubu from performing well in office. In his view, instead of bringing them back to power, they should be sent to jail.

“Most of them are supposed to be in jail, but they have been appointed ministers. How do you justify that? Many of them did not give an account of the funds given to them as governors. Most of the former governors appointed ministers are supposed to be in jail.

“They cannot even show what they used the funds given to them to do as state governors. Many of them, especially from the northern part of the country collected money from the CBN as agricultural loans to subsidize fertilizer and other farming implements, but they have nothing to show for the loans because they did not give to the farmers that the money was originally meant for.

“They gave all manners of flimsy excuses including the one that flood ravaged the farms. Yet, these are the same crop of party leaders that President Tinubu has assembled as his ministers.

“My concern is that I don’t even know the magic Tinubu will perform with these sets of human beings. Yes, Asiwaju has shown that he is ready to work, but how is he going to perform with people that are an authority unto themselves as former executive officers in the states they are coming from? Will they be loyal to him or will they start to hatch plan B to run down the government? If he had brought fresh people be sure they will give him their maximum best, but not these old brigades that will come with the same set of people, including the contractors they used as governors.

“So, we should not expect the best brain to do the work. Asiwaju has confirmed that politicians are recycled products by giving Nigerians a set of bad politicians that did not mean well for their states.

“We need fresh people that will help the president not destroyers like the crop of people he has assembled. Mr President thinks he is doing them a favour by helping him to win his election, but they will be the ones to destroy him. Since they don’t want to leave the corridors of power, they will soon start plotting the next political move. Some of them will be so aggrieved with the release of the portfolios for the ministers. They will feel short-changed, yet they will not step aside, but will remain inside to foment trouble and frustrate the government,” Nabena submitted.