To say that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has enormous powers is certainly stating the obvious. Indeed, one of such powers is the power to hire and fire political appointees at will.
But in exercising that power, it remains to be seen if Mr. President has allowed proper due diligence to take place in some of the appointments he has made public so far.
Clearly, there is something amiss if the President has to announce the nomination of a political appointee in one minute and withdraw the nomination the very next minute!
The latest in the gaffes is the withdrawal of the nomination of Dr. Ruby Onwudiwe as a member of the Board of Central Bank earlier in the week.
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Moments after the news of her nomination filtered in, screenshots of her social media surfaced online where she flaunted her support for Labour Party and its Presidential candidate, Peter Obi in the last election and a display of the result of the presidential election at a polling unit in Lekki part of Lagos where the LP candidate won.
It is not the first time the president is withdrawing the nomination of appointees. It may be recalled that President Tinubu had last August replaced a ministerial nominee from Kano, Maryam Shettima, popularly known as Maryam Shetty, a decision largely informed by political partisanship and nothing whatsoever to do with her competence and performance.
Shetty’s dismissal particularly raised so much dust because she was thought to boast of a very attractive CV as a national leader of the APC support group, graduating from Bayero University, Kano, with a distinction in BSc Physiotherapy. She also has an MSc in Sports Physiotherapy from the University of East London.
However, indications emerged that she was sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. The same thing is apparent in the withdrawal of the nomination of Onwudiwe.
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The question therefore arises: who vets the appointments of political appointees? What is the role of the president’s kitchen cabinet, especially the Chief of Staff, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and even the Directorate of Secret Service (DSS) in all of these?
From hindsight, once anybody is tipped for any political appointment, a thorough background check needs to be conducted on such a person to determine if such a person is a politically exposed person (PEP), a criminal felon, or of someone of questionable character and all.
It is after such due diligence checks have been done to verify his or her credentials and true character portraiture as someone with an impeccable personae before a formal announcement is brought to the public. But unfortunately that has not been the two cases highlighted above.
What this shows is that the president’s men are not organised at all if they have to continue to allow these gaffes and errors of judgment, a development which paints the picture of a presidency not on top of its own power game.
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Is this really surprising? No. To attempt a horse of recall, such incidence was common under the immediate past administration.
A number of persons, including political appointees who were nominated to serve in some ministry and departmental agencies (MDAs) under Buhari were later dropped for reasons bordering on the superficial to the complex.
For instance, in December 2017, among Buhari’s appointees were three persons who were discovered to have long passed.
Specifically, Senator Francis Okpozo, who passed December 2016, was appointed the Chairman of the Nigerian Press Council, just as Reverend Christopher Utov, who passed in March 2017, was appointed on the board of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research. Ditto for Donald Ugbaja, who passed in November, was also added to the board of the Consumer Protection Council.
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Also, in June 2019, the then Senate President, Ahmad Lawan withdrew the appointment of Festus Adedayo, who was supposed to be his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity barely 48 hours after announcing his new role, in circumstances that were both unpleasant and clearly partisan.
But with a new government in the saddle, such gaffes should not be allowed to fester any more than the president should be seen as someone persuaded by primordial sentiments.
The president’s men have to step up their game henceforth and not keep the impression that the Tinubu Presidency is not on ground.
A stitch in time saves nine.