Indications came forth on Friday that President Muhammadu Buhari holds regular discussions together with the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan as well as other former presidents, which includes Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo, Yakubu Gowon and Shehu Sagari on who will become members of the next Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The move came against the backdrop of unrealistic demands of national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and some other chieftains of the party. This also informed the recent decisions of the Presidency to keep away from them major and crucial decisions of government.
President Buhari, having learnt lessons from the overbearing influence of some godfathers of the immediate past government of the now opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which affected the fortunes of the party in the last general elections, may have begun secret consultations with former President Goodluck Jonathan on the choice of new ministers, special advisers and other appointments at the federal level.
The president, who confided in some friends of Mr Femi Adesina, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, who visited him at Defence House, Abuja on Friday, disclosed that he had specifically consulted Jonathan and asked him to forward names of those he considers competent and fit for appointment as ministers.
According to Sundiata Post, friends of Mr Femi Adesina, immediate past Managing Director of The Sun Newspapers, comprising members of Nigerian Guild of Editors and his friends from defunct Concord Newspapers, whom had worked with Adesina in the days of Concord, paid a ‘Thank-You’ visit to Buhari at his Defence House residence in Abuja on Friday.
A source from Defence House said that Buhari told the friends of Mr Adesina who came to thank him for the choice of Adesina as Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, that he would run an all-inclusive government against the thoughts of Bola Tinubu and some APC caucuses, saying: “I will run all-inclusive government here.” He described Nigeria as an aircraft and Tinubu and the APC as pilots.
The president said they might know and consider what happens to passengers after the long journey but would forget that governance goes beyond one or two terms, adding that he would not allow selfish and parochial interest of anybody, no matter how highly placed, to override good and corruption-free governance.
The source said, “Nigerians will be shocked when President Buhari completes the list of who becomes ministers, advisers and all other key positions in a few weeks. By the time the National Assembly receives the list, even Tinubu will be shocked because like the man said during the inauguration, he is ready to work for everybody and nobody.”
The source further revealed that President Buhari “is ready and willing to work with anybody in any part of the country in as much as the person abides by the philosophy of his government and is ready to live a corruption-free life”. It added, “those that are perceived corrupt by Nigerians can also work with him if they have decided to turn a new leaf.”
It could be recalled that this is not the first time President Buhari would work secretly with the former President Jonathan since they had once worked together for the emergence of the former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina as the newly- elected President of African Development Bank (AfDB).
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