Ministers: We are under pressure – APC

ALL Progressive Congress (APC) Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Lawal Shuaibu yesterday opened up on the enormous pressure party officials were undergoing over composition of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet. Senator Shuibu revealed they were under tremendous pressure to prevail on Buhari to appoint ministers adding that when they could no longer withstand the pressure, they in turn mounted pressure on the President, who he said resisted the pressure and gave convincing reasons for the delay.
Shuaibu, who was guest speaker at the APC-USA first National Convention Lecture 2015 with the theme: “APC Change Agenda: The Role of the Party”, in New York, the United States of America said: “We mounted pressure on him to appoint ministers but he resisted, he said he needed to know what is happening before appointing anybody. He said if he rushed to appoint ministers, he will be in the dark of what is happening in the ministries and so would the newly appointed ministers and the corruption he is trying to get rid of will continue. That was why two permanent secretaries per day were briefing him on the situation of the things before he took over on daily basis.”
The APC leader said with the conclusion of the briefings by the permanent secretaries, the President will surely name his cabinet.
“The President is fully ready now. Any time before the end of the month he is going to name his ministerial nominees. People that qualified, people that fit his own idea of who could serve under his government and his cabinet.
“The meeting with the President and the bureaucrats has been for him to be briefed, for him to understand the real situation in the public sector and only the permanent secretaries and heads of parastatals and agencies could provide him with such information because the politicians had gone without giving him adequate brief on what he was taking over.”
On the allegation that Buhari has been running a one-man show, Shuaibu said the President cannot be denied his rights of choosing those that can work with him, people who understand what he wants, adding, “that was the idea behind the initial appointments that he made which attracted criticism everywhere.
“There was nothing like one-man show in what the President has done. What he said is that government is a continuum. That was why he said politicians only make the noise. The noise he was referring to is that the politicians talk about the business of government, policies and so on, you don’t expect a permanent secretaries to go and address a press conference, he is a civil servant. Since he took over government business has not stopped, he is talking with the permanent secretaries and heads of parastatals and agencies who run the engine of government.”
Shuaibu also insisted that Buhari’s style of governance has been yielding positive results with people returning money secretly, disclosing that the President adopted two options to recover the looted funds one of which is plea bargain and special courts where justice will be delivered without intimidation from any judge.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman of APC USA, Tony Isama, said the convention was part of the reawakening of Nigerians in the Diaspora to contribute to the nation’s building and that of the party.