Spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi, yesterday advised political associates of the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, to give him a free hand in selecting his cabinet.
Ango, who gave the advice during an interview with pressmen in Zaria, noted that there are good and competent people in the country that Buhari can appoint as ministers and aides.
He said: “When you take him (Buhari) aside, he should scout for competent leaders. I would like to emphasise this; he should avoid the mistake that Obasanjo was forced to make. At the beginning of Obasanjo’s administration, we are aware, that he could not search for his ministers. The ministers had to be nominated by governors of his party. This was the first problem that Obasanjo administration faced in terms of loyalty of ministers who were nominated by their governors. So, it became difficult for Obasanjo to even reshuffle his cabinet. Buhari should completely avoid this. He should be able to scout for good people who are available in all parts of the country.”
Professor Ango described the 2015 election as better than that of 2011 in terms of organization and integrity.
“Those responsible for its organization decided that they should give it integrity. I am one of those who felt that the 2011 election lacked the integrity that we saw in the 2015 election. 2011 elections were highly compromised, particularly in the South-South and South-East to serve the interest of Jonathan at the time. We saw votes cast exceeded the number of registered voters. One of the innovations that I would like to praise is the Card Reader, because it made considerable difference in ensuring that voters were identified and that their votes counted. This was why the party that was heading for defeat saw clearly that the introduction of permanent voter’s cards and the reader would be bad for it. That was why they manoeuvred and pressurized INEC to postpone the elections,” Professor Ango said.
He added: “This country has built a lot of problems in the last 16 years, and he (Buhari) has itemised the challenges in his speech.
Buhari’s immediate challenge is to secure peace in the minds of
Nigerians. Everything should be done to overcome the insurgency in the country, and the most important is to show leadership by example particularly in tackling corruption.”
Source: Daily Trust
