Encomium
National Publicity Secretary of The All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Lai Muhammed has denied saying President Buhari would announce his ministers in a few days.
The APC spokesman, rather told encomium.ng he only said the President would soon release the much-awaited ministerial list.
“It is not true. What I said was that the ministerial list will be released soon, “he told encomium.ng in an exclusive phone chat at 1:50 pm on Friday, July 3, 2015.
The National Publicity Secretary of APC was on Thursday, July 2, 2015, quoted as saying that President Muhammadu Buhari would be announcing his ministerial nominees in the next few days.
Speaking to newsmen in Oro, Kwara State, Mohammed acknowledged the fact that the President’s delay is hindering governance but said Nigerians should be patient.
“The concern of Nigerians over the delay in the release of ministerial appointments is genuine. But the fact is that this is the first time in the history of Nigeria that the opposition party will take over government from the ruling party.
“Our plan was to interface and interact with the outgoing government, but it didn’t just work out, so party set up transition committee which later presented 800 pages hand over documents to Mr. President.
“So, in this kind of situation we found ourselves, we have to be thorough in making appointments because Nigerians’ expectations are very high and it’s understandable. So, in a couple of days, the ministerial cabinet list would be made available and it would be a thing of the past.
“We might be slow, but in reality when we make the right appointments, we will make up for all the shortcomings Nigerians have been complaining about”
But this afternoon, Lai Muhammed explained to encomium.ng he was not quoted correctly.
Nigerians are worried that Buhari who assumed office over a month ago is not in a hurry to form his cabinet. And there are speculations he won’t do so until next month or early September.
-Uche Olehi
