The oath of office for commissioners has not yet been taken in no fewer than 21 of the country’s 28 states.
The constitution mandates that state governors send a list of their commissioners to the relevant Houses of Assembly by July 27 in order to receive approval prior to being sworn in.
However, only seven states have sworn in their commissioners since the governors’ 2023 inauguration, and there are still less than six days until the deadline.
More than a dozen candidates for governor who won the March 18 and April 15 run-off elections took the oath of office on May 29, 2023.
In 28 of the 36 states, the governors were sworn in, with 18 being first-timers and 10 being re-elected.
After their lists were sent to and approved by the state Houses of Assembly, Abia, Delta, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kano, Rivers, and Taraba states swore in their commissioners, according to information obtained by Saturday PUNCH.
States from Benue, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, and Yobe are among the 21 that have not yet sworn in their commissioners.
Others are the states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Cross River.Ten governors are returning: Babajide Sanwo-Olu from Lagos, Dapo Abiodun from Ogun, Babagana Zulum from Borno, Inuwa Yahaya from Gome, Bala Mohammed from Bucchi, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq from Kwara, Seyi Makinde from Oyo, Abdullahi Sule from Niger, Ahmadu Fintiri from Adamawa, and Mai Buni from Yobe.
Since the beginning of his second term, Fintiri has only sworn in one commissioner out of these governors, Afraimu Jingi (Commissioner for Justice).
In the meantime, lawmakers from all parties claimed to be unaware of the whereabouts of President Bola Tinubu’s list of nominees for ministerial positions.
In separate interviews, the lawmaker claimed they had no idea what stage the ministerial list was in and had no knowledge of the names of those who were mentioned in the letter.
On May 29, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret. ), the outgoing president, officially handed over the reins of power to President Bola Tinubu.
Gov. Nwifuru of Ebonyi ordains 35 commissioners and others.
According to the 1999 Constitution as amended, the President has at least 60 days to assemble his cabinet; Tinubu has about eight days left to announce the members of his team.
Dele Alake, the presidential spokesperson, recently stated that only President Tinubu had the authority to choose who should be included on the list and when it should be submitted to the National Assembly.
Alake added that the President wouldn’t skip the window of 60 days.
In an effort to meet the deadline, it was learned that the President had sent the names of some people to security agencies for clearance; however, top sources cautioned that this did not guarantee that they would be included on the list when the nominees were eventually submitted to the Senate for consideration.
Sources claim that the Department of State Services’ security checks to allow for adequate scrutiny caused a delay in the release of the list containing the nominees for ministerial positions.
The names of prominent former governors, including Nyesom Wike, Atiku Bagudu, and Aminu Masari, are rumored to be on the list of nominees for ministerial positions, though the list has not yet been made public.
Senator Victor Umeh (Labour Party, Anambra Central), in response to questions about the ministerial list, said he was unaware of its current state.
He refuted rumors that the Senate discussed the ministerial list in an executive session.
I don’t know anything about the list, he declared. I’m not a spokesperson, so I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not aware that the Senate has received the list.
“The ministerial list, as reported, had nothing to do with the Senate’s private meeting; rather, other matters were involved. The claim that the Senate discussed the ministerial list behind closed doors is untrue and inaccurate.
Additionally, a South-West APC lawmaker who asked to remain anonymous said that he was unsure of what stage the ministerial list was in but was confident that the Senate would accept it whenever it arrived here.
I don’t know anything about the list, the senator declared. Towards the month’s end, it might arrive. However, since I have no knowledge of it and have no interest in it, there is nothing to be excited about. The Senate would review and screen them once the list arrived.
