The nomination of five ex-governors by President Muhammadu Buhari to serve in his cabinet brings to focus the contributions of former governors who served in previous federal cabinets. Have they proved the difference? Asks ONYEKACHI EZE
With the nomination of five former governors as members of his would-be cabinet, President Muhammadu Buhari appears to be toeing the line of his predecessors. Since Nigeria’s return to civil rule in 1999, persons who have held position as governor, either during military or civilian dispensation, have been appointed to serve in the federal cabinet.
And except Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, all the three other Nigerian presidents were former governors. Senator Jim Nwobodo, former governor of old Anambra State, who also doubles as Chairman of Forum of Former Governors of Nigeria, was right when he told former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, in the run to the 2015 general elections that former governors are central in the administration of the country. “The National Chairmen of the two major political parties are our members; the presidential candidates of the two major political parties are former governors.
“There is no former governor that has no influence in his state…,” Nwobodo said. And he is right. The presidential candidate of PDP in the 2015 election, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, served as governor in Bayelsa State. The All Progressives Congress (APC) challenger, Buhari, was also a military governor of old Borno State, which now comprises of the present Borno and Yobe states.
Jonathan’s immediate predecessor, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, equally served as governor of Kaduna State before becoming president. Also, the parties’ National Chairmen, Mu’azu, now former, and John Odigie-Oyegun, were governors in Bauchi and Edo states respectively. Five former governors served during the eight years Obasanjo presided over the affairs of the country.
Those served during this period were Bola Ige, former governor of Oyo State; Fidelis Tapgun, former governor of Plateau State; Chief Cornelius Adebayo, former governor of Kwara State; Major General David Jemibewon, former military governor of defunct Western Region and Oyo State and Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, former governor of Kano State. His predecessor, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, appointed three of his former colleagues to help him pilot the affairs of the country.
Those who worked with him during the nearly three years he served as president were Dr. Sam Egwu (Ebonyi), Chief Achike Udenwa (Imo) and Alhaji Adamu Aliero (Kebbi). Jonathan also appointed three former governors into his cabinet. They include Boni Haruna, former governor of Adamawa State, Navy Captain Omoniyi Caleb Olubolade, who was military administrator of the former president’s home state, Bayelsa, and Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, also former governor of Kano State.
President Buhari, who has already nominated five former governors, might surpass his predecessors by the time he completes his first term in office. Those who will serve in Buhari’s cabinet if cleared by the Senate are Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Mr. Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Mr. Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers), Senator Chris Ngige (Anambra) and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu (old Abia State).
There are likelihood that some former governors might make the remaining ministerial list. One would tempt to assume that the reason why the ex-governors won the heart of the presidents was to harness the wealth of experience they might have garnered as former state administrators. But were the former governors exceptional in the quality of leadership they offered?
Bola Ige
Ige, who held two portfolios – Power and Justice – under Obasanjo’s government failed to replicate his achievements when he was governor of Oyo State in the ministries. As a Minister of Power between 1999 and 2000, Ige made no meaningful impact. Even Obasanjo, who appointed him, was disappointed with his performance.
The nation’s energy problem seemed to worsen due to frosty relationship between the minister and Managing Director of the then National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA). Ige was reassigned to the Ministry of Justice in 2000. His only notable achievement in the ministry was the successful campaign against the judgement of a Gwadabawa Sharia Court in Sokoto State on Safiya Hussaini for committing adultery.
The sharia court had ruled that Hussaini should be stoned to death but Ige as Attorney General and Minister of Justice led the Federal Government to oppose the judgement. Ige’s plan to re-arrange and consolidate the laws of the Federation, publish them in digital form, and make them available on the website of the ministry, did not materialise before his gruesome murder in December 2001.
David Jemibewon
Jemibewon, who also served in Obasanjo government left an indelible mark in the Police Affairs Ministry. The Kogi State born retired military officer was credited with providing better equipment to police personnel to cope with the task of internal security, recruitment of 33,000 personnel into the Nigeria Police Force and the establishment of the Nigeria Police Service Commission, which is saddled with the responsibility of recruitment, promotion and discipline of police officers. Before he was dropped in 2000 when the former president carried a reshufflement of his cabinet, Jemibewon introduced a five-year plan for the police.
Rabiu Kwankwaso
The appointment of Kwankwaso as Defence Minister in 2003 by Obasanjo, was to compensate him for his loss of Kano State governorship election. He stayed in the ministry till 2007 when he resigned to re-contest the gubernatorial election in the state. Kwankwaso was one of the longest former governors, so far, to serve in the federal cabinet; he served an uninterrupted period of four years. Even when he lost the 2007 gubernatorial election, Obasanjo’s successor, Yar’Adua appointed him Nigerian Special Envoy for Sudan and Dafur.
Cornelius Adebayo
Adebayo was one of the former governors who failed to make adequate impact while in the federal cabinet. He served in two federal ministries – Communications and Works. When he joined the cabinet in 2003, the nation’s telecommunications industry had already been deregulated. He was later re-assigned to the Ministry of Works in September 2006, few months to the expiration of Obasanjo’s second tenure in office.
Caleb Olubolade
Navy Captain Olubolade who was appointed by the Jonathan’s government in 2010, served in three ministries – Special Duties, Federal Capital Territory (FCT, as a Minister of State), and Police Affairs. In all these ministries, his impact was not well felt. It was rumoured that his removal was to “prepare” him for the June 2014 governorship in his home state, Ekiti, but he was roundly trounced by Ayodele Fayose at the PDP primaries, which put a lie that he was not an anointed candidate by the presidency. Olubolade came a distant second, scoring only seven votes.
Fidelis Tapgun
Tapgun, a Third Republic governor of Plateau State, was appointed Minister of Industry by Obasanjo in 2005. In 2007, with the merger of ministries of Commerce and Industry, he served as Minister of State in the new ministry. Tapgun did not record any spectacle achievement while he was in the government. His promise that the Nigeria Cement Company (NIGERCEM) in Nkalagu, Ebonyi State would re-open for production could not materialised many years even after he left office. The promise to standardise the nation’s local products to enable it compete with foreign goods, also remained a mere wishful thinking. The former governor left office with the man who appointed him in May 2007.
Adamu Aliero
Senator Aliero, who joined the Yar’Adua cabinet from the Senate, had a short tenure as Minister of FCT. He was consumed by the intrigues surrounding the former president’s hospitalisation and eventual death. Aliero was one of the ministers who concealed the true state of Yar’Adua’s health from the public in order to prevent Jonathan from assuming office as Acting President. He was given the boot when Jonathan later became president in 2010 following Yar’Adua’s death.
Sam Egwu
Dr. Egwu’s tenure as Minister of Education was dogged by controversy. The nation’s witnessed one of the longest industrial disputes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) under his watch. The former Ebonyi State governor was severely criticised for poor handling of the ASUU strike, and for throwing a bashing to mark his 25th wedding anniversary while the nation’s tertiary institutions were under lock and key.
Egwu was said to have suggested that tuition fees in the nation’s tertiary institutions should be increased to N100, 000. There were deafening calls for his sack for showing insensitivity to the plight to the problems facing the education sector. He was eventually eased off from the cabinet.
Ibrahim Shekarau
On the other hand, the former Kano State governor, Malam Shekarau was brought into the federal cabinet by former President Jonathan to stabilise the crisis in the education sector. At the time he was appointed minister, several unions in the nation’s education sector had declared industrial dispute with the Federal Government. But Shekarau was able to bring the union leaders to a round table and was able to resolve the lingering disputes. The former Kano State governor was in the cabinet until the time the former president dissolved his cabinet in the twilight of his administration on May 29, 2015.
Achike Udenwa
Chief Udenwa, a former governor of Imo State, was appointed minister by former President Yar’Adua in December 2008. He served in the Ministry of Commence and Industry until 2010 when he was dropped from the cabinet when the then Acting President Jonathan dissolved the former’s cabinet.
Boni Haruna
The former Adamawa State governor was assigned Ministry of Youth Development portfolio. Like his colleagues, Haruna did not make much impact in his new assignment.
New entrants
Going by the performances of the ministerial nominees in office as governors, it is believed that the would-be ministers would surpass expectations unlike previous governor- ministers. Like him or hate him, Fashola’s performance in Lagos State for eight years was outstanding. So also his colleague in Rivers, Amaechi.
The duo can be faulted on other areas but not on performance. For Fayemi, the four years he presided over the affairs of Ekiti State witnessed tremendous growth. The 33-month rein of Ngige in Anambra State was also impactful so also of Onu in old Abia State. Nigerians are looking forward to the magic Buhari’s five former governors will perform in his cabinet.
With the controversies trailing their nominations, one hopes they will not be distracted, and that they will raise the bar above their predecessors.
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