The 2011 election results were mixed blessings
for ministers some of whom could not deliver their states in the polls,
Ihuoma Chiedozie writes
For some ministers, hopes of
continuing as a member of President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet, after
his inauguration for a new four-year term on May 29 2011, may have been
dealt a serious blow following the inability of the governorship
candidates of their party, the Peoples Democratic Party, to win
governorship elections in their states.
Although the development did not effectively foreclose their chances of being retained in the Federal Executive Council, the concerned ministers would no doubt have to contend with more anxious moments than their colleagues whose state gubernatorial candidates won elections.
Suddenly deprived of the strong support base which a friendly state governor guarantees and provides, the fate of these ministers whose states recorded losses for the PDP are certainly at the mercy of unpredictable political forces, not least the interests of the losing governors or governorship candidates themselves.
This is especially so for those whose states were governed by PDP governors until the April 26 governorship elections.
Ministers in this group include Information and Communication Minister, Mr. Labaran Maku, from Nasarawa State. Maku, a former deputy governor in Nasarawa State during the administration of former governor Adamu Abdullahi, had seen his profile rise in the FEC in recent times after the erstwhile information minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili, resigned from the cabinet to pursue a senatorial ambition in Anambra State.
Akunyili’s resignation paved the way for Maku’s emergence as the substantive information minister, but the failure of his state governor, Aliu Akwe Doma, to get re-elected as governor on April 26 might affect his chances of consolidating his growing stature in the FEC, post May 29.
Doma, of the PDP, lost to Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of the Congress for Progressive Change in the contest for the Nasarawa State Government House.
Joining Maku in this category is the Minister of State for Sports, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, from Oyo State, where the incumbent governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, fell victim to tsunami-like broom of the Action Congress of Nigeria in the South West, which swept the region clean.
Alao-Akala duly lost to Sen. Abiola Ajimobi, thereby leaving Adedoja without a much-needed governorship support.
The two ministers from Ogun State, Jibril Martins-Kuye, and Awodele Najeem Adewale, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Minister of State for Agriculture, respectively, are also in this group, although in a different degree as their incumbent state governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, was not seeking a re-election, having satisfied the constitutional two-term tenure in office.
However, the PDP governorship candidate in Ogun State, Gen. Tunji Olurin, lost to the ACN’s Sen. Ibikunle Amosun.
As a result, the PDP would not have a governor in Ogun State after May 29, a situation that may not augur well for Kuye’s, and Adewale’s future ministerial prospects.
Minister of State for Health, Suleiman Bello, from Zamfara State, also joins this set of ministers that have lost their governorship support base following the defeat of their state governors in the April 26 polls.
The Zamfara State Governor, Mohammed Shinkafi, lost to the All Nigeria Peoples Party flagbearer, Adbulaziz Yari Abubakar.
Interestingly also, Shinkafi was originally of the ANPP, having been elected on that platform, before defecting to the PDP.
For the ministers from Lagos, Yobe and Borno, the impact of governorship defeats for the PDP in the states might not be very significant, as, even before now, they have been doing without the support base that could come with having PDP governors in their states.
Interesting, the two ministers in the ministry of finance, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, and Mrs. Yabawa Wabi, minister and minister of state for finance, respectively, are both in this situation.
Both of them have not been enjoying whatever benefits that come with having state governors that are in the same political party as the one that formed the Federal Government where they are serving, and as a result, the fresh loss of gubernatorial election by the PDP in their states might not have a very defined impact on their fortunes.
But the disappointment, and attendant recriminations that follow in the wake of major electoral losses may well scuttle their chances of returning to the cabinet.
With all manners of party leaders and stalwarts having a say or more in the appointment of ministers, and with various interests to be considered, it is quite possible that, in the midst of the prevailing feeling of disappointment arguments could be advanced, suggesting that a minister – who by virtue of his position at the federal level should be a leader of the party at the state – is indeed a political liability, having been unable to play any effective role to boost the party’s electoral fortune in the state elections.
There have always been high expectations that ministers should, as a result of their ranks, be able to effectively enhance their party’s chances of victory in elections.
This expectation was no doubt cemented by concrete results arguably achieved by some ministers in some previous elections, to the extent that, with time, it came to be taken for granted that a minister would deliver his electoral constituency.
This expectation informs the shock and excitement that usually greet reports that a minister, or indeed any other top government official, suffered electoral defeat – whether personal, or corporate in cases that directly concern his or her party’s candidate – in his or her ward.
And this expectation also informs the usually overzealous manner in which serving ministers and other ranking Federal Government officials approach the electoral campaigns of their party’s candidates in their own states.
The motivation is to remain relevant by “delivering.”
It was therefore not surprising that during the FEC meeting of Wednesday April 20, 2011, the first cabinet meeting after the presidential election, ministers in whose state the PDP won, and particularly in their wards, were overheard joyfully telling their colleagues, “I delivered! I delivered!”
Be that as it may, another trouble looming in the horizon for the concerned ministers who come from states where the PDP lost governorship elections, particularly those states where incumbent governors lost to the opposition, is that the former governors themselves may want to join the FEC and become ministers.
In fact, this worrisome possibility (for the ministers), is not just restricted to these ministers who come from states where the PDP lost governorship polls.
The recent political history of the country has shown that former governors have a huge appetite for well-heeled public office, a condition that makes the group arguably the most politically restless set of Nigerian politicians.
As a result of this disposition, a number former governors have moved up, or down, to ministerial positions after their stint in state government houses.
Since the current democratic dispensation commenced in 1999, the former governors who have taken this path include Achike Udenwa of Imo State, Ibrahim Kwankwaso of Kano State, Adamu Aliero of Kebbi State and Sam Egwu of Ebonyi State.
By Ihuoma Chiedozie Courtesy Of: Punch
Although the development did not effectively foreclose their chances of being retained in the Federal Executive Council, the concerned ministers would no doubt have to contend with more anxious moments than their colleagues whose state gubernatorial candidates won elections.
Suddenly deprived of the strong support base which a friendly state governor guarantees and provides, the fate of these ministers whose states recorded losses for the PDP are certainly at the mercy of unpredictable political forces, not least the interests of the losing governors or governorship candidates themselves.
This is especially so for those whose states were governed by PDP governors until the April 26 governorship elections.
Ministers in this group include Information and Communication Minister, Mr. Labaran Maku, from Nasarawa State. Maku, a former deputy governor in Nasarawa State during the administration of former governor Adamu Abdullahi, had seen his profile rise in the FEC in recent times after the erstwhile information minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili, resigned from the cabinet to pursue a senatorial ambition in Anambra State.
Akunyili’s resignation paved the way for Maku’s emergence as the substantive information minister, but the failure of his state governor, Aliu Akwe Doma, to get re-elected as governor on April 26 might affect his chances of consolidating his growing stature in the FEC, post May 29.
Doma, of the PDP, lost to Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of the Congress for Progressive Change in the contest for the Nasarawa State Government House.
Joining Maku in this category is the Minister of State for Sports, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, from Oyo State, where the incumbent governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, fell victim to tsunami-like broom of the Action Congress of Nigeria in the South West, which swept the region clean.
Alao-Akala duly lost to Sen. Abiola Ajimobi, thereby leaving Adedoja without a much-needed governorship support.
The two ministers from Ogun State, Jibril Martins-Kuye, and Awodele Najeem Adewale, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Minister of State for Agriculture, respectively, are also in this group, although in a different degree as their incumbent state governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, was not seeking a re-election, having satisfied the constitutional two-term tenure in office.
However, the PDP governorship candidate in Ogun State, Gen. Tunji Olurin, lost to the ACN’s Sen. Ibikunle Amosun.
As a result, the PDP would not have a governor in Ogun State after May 29, a situation that may not augur well for Kuye’s, and Adewale’s future ministerial prospects.
Minister of State for Health, Suleiman Bello, from Zamfara State, also joins this set of ministers that have lost their governorship support base following the defeat of their state governors in the April 26 polls.
The Zamfara State Governor, Mohammed Shinkafi, lost to the All Nigeria Peoples Party flagbearer, Adbulaziz Yari Abubakar.
Interestingly also, Shinkafi was originally of the ANPP, having been elected on that platform, before defecting to the PDP.
For the ministers from Lagos, Yobe and Borno, the impact of governorship defeats for the PDP in the states might not be very significant, as, even before now, they have been doing without the support base that could come with having PDP governors in their states.
Interesting, the two ministers in the ministry of finance, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, and Mrs. Yabawa Wabi, minister and minister of state for finance, respectively, are both in this situation.
Both of them have not been enjoying whatever benefits that come with having state governors that are in the same political party as the one that formed the Federal Government where they are serving, and as a result, the fresh loss of gubernatorial election by the PDP in their states might not have a very defined impact on their fortunes.
But the disappointment, and attendant recriminations that follow in the wake of major electoral losses may well scuttle their chances of returning to the cabinet.
With all manners of party leaders and stalwarts having a say or more in the appointment of ministers, and with various interests to be considered, it is quite possible that, in the midst of the prevailing feeling of disappointment arguments could be advanced, suggesting that a minister – who by virtue of his position at the federal level should be a leader of the party at the state – is indeed a political liability, having been unable to play any effective role to boost the party’s electoral fortune in the state elections.
There have always been high expectations that ministers should, as a result of their ranks, be able to effectively enhance their party’s chances of victory in elections.
This expectation was no doubt cemented by concrete results arguably achieved by some ministers in some previous elections, to the extent that, with time, it came to be taken for granted that a minister would deliver his electoral constituency.
This expectation informs the shock and excitement that usually greet reports that a minister, or indeed any other top government official, suffered electoral defeat – whether personal, or corporate in cases that directly concern his or her party’s candidate – in his or her ward.
And this expectation also informs the usually overzealous manner in which serving ministers and other ranking Federal Government officials approach the electoral campaigns of their party’s candidates in their own states.
The motivation is to remain relevant by “delivering.”
It was therefore not surprising that during the FEC meeting of Wednesday April 20, 2011, the first cabinet meeting after the presidential election, ministers in whose state the PDP won, and particularly in their wards, were overheard joyfully telling their colleagues, “I delivered! I delivered!”
Be that as it may, another trouble looming in the horizon for the concerned ministers who come from states where the PDP lost governorship elections, particularly those states where incumbent governors lost to the opposition, is that the former governors themselves may want to join the FEC and become ministers.
In fact, this worrisome possibility (for the ministers), is not just restricted to these ministers who come from states where the PDP lost governorship polls.
The recent political history of the country has shown that former governors have a huge appetite for well-heeled public office, a condition that makes the group arguably the most politically restless set of Nigerian politicians.
As a result of this disposition, a number former governors have moved up, or down, to ministerial positions after their stint in state government houses.
Since the current democratic dispensation commenced in 1999, the former governors who have taken this path include Achike Udenwa of Imo State, Ibrahim Kwankwaso of Kano State, Adamu Aliero of Kebbi State and Sam Egwu of Ebonyi State.
By Ihuoma Chiedozie Courtesy Of: Punch
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