Buhari’s failure to constitute his cabinet unsettles top APC leaders

President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to constitute his cabinet over 40 days after taking over power is unsettling top leaders of his party, All Progressives Congress, APC. According to reports, the permutations ahead of 2019 presidential elections are also deepening the crisis besetting the National Assembly caucus of the ruling party. Some APC leaders told Thisday that Buhari’s delay in appointing a cabinet may negatively impact the administration. It will be recalled that reports emerged a few weeks back that Nigerians should not expect a cabinet earlier than September. Some APC leaders, however, viewed Buhari’s decision to delay the appointment of cabinet as projecting him as a “man who intends to shut out all the people who helped him win the election.” A party leader told the paper that, “We are beginning to believe that the suspense by Mr. President is deliberate. He is exploiting the delay to scare away people like us who helped him get to the top. “Attempting to visit Mr. President when he was in the Defence House used to be a nightmare. With his movement into the State House, it has become almost impossible to see him. Tell me, how do you know what a man is thinking when you can’t see him?” quizzed the party leader. Also sources close to the APC national leader Senator Bola Tinubu, told the paper that the delayed appointments have conspired with the leadership crisis in the National Assembly to drive a wedge between their leader and the president. “These days, you hardly see national leader (Tinubu) talking excitedly about the party or the government, apparently because he has been shut out and doesn’t know what is happening. “The story is the same with former governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi. The situation is not helped by the pressure from their political foot soldiers seeking financial rehabilitation after being in the opposition for several years,” the source said. Thisday also claimed to have gathered that, though worried by the delayed appointments, none of the APC leaders may be willing to openly complain on the development for fear of “losing out completely.” A party insider told the paper that leaders were worried by Buhari’s resort to the Head of Service, Mr. Danladi Kifasi, and the permanent secretaries to drive his administration’s policies. The source listed the recent disagreements between Buhari’s ADC and his Chief Security Officer, on the one hand, and the recent over-ruling of the permanent secretary, ministry of defence, by the National Security Adviser (NSA) Col. Dasuki Sambo, on military checkpoints across the country as “grossly embarrassing.” There are also fears among some party leaders that the delayed appointments may not particularly be an incentive to foreign investors as they don’t know the economic direction of the Buhari administration. “As things are, Nigeria appears to be in transition. The appointment of ministers and advisers will give the world an idea of the policy and economic direction of the administration. Without the appointments, no investor worth his salt will invest a dime. This is the simple truth,” another leader of the party said.