Ayo Fayose Writes Buhari: Let Me Pick Ekiti Ministerial Nominee.

The Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to grant him the privilege to nominate a candidate to fill the slot of the state in the Federal Executive Council.

The governor in a letter to President Buhari dated May 31  promised to send what he called “a worthy and competent Ekiti professional for appointment” as minister in the All Progressive Congress (APC) government.

He noted that he wrote the letter based on the declaration made by the President that he would put the overall interest of the country above political partisanship and biases.

The governor also hinted that his letter was on the strength of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria section 147 sub (2) and (3) which states that, “Any appointment to the office of the Minister of the government of the Federation shall if the nomination of any such person to such office is confirmed by the Senate, be made by the President.

“Any appointment under sub- section (2) of this section by the President shall be in conformity with the provision of section 15 (3) of this constitution provided that in giving effect to the provision aforesaid, the President shall appoint at least one minister from each state who shall be indigene of such state.”

Mr. Fayose argued that since Ekiti is a Peoples Democratic Party state where the state governor, the National Assembly and the state assembly members are PDP, it was expedient that he be accorded the honour of naming the minister that would come from the state.

He noted that this would not be new, saying that late Bola Ige, who was the leader of the Alliance for Democracy and the party’s National Chairman, Ahmed Abdukadri, were made minister and special adviser respectively by the PDP government of Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007.

APC  however, reacting through  its Publicity Secretary Taiwo Olatubosun has described Fayose’s request as “a gratuitous insult and madness at its worst fits”.

 The party said: “Even if he were to be APC governor, haven’t President Muhammadu Buhari made it plain that he won’t allow the governors to pick ministers for him?

 “Why didn’t Fayose fight for ‎Governor Kayode Fayemi to allow him suggest Ekiti ministerial nominees for President Goodluck Jonathan when the former President was appointing his ministers?

 “We hope Fayose will, for once, strike a sane chord in his public conduct and stop hallucinating about the right to nominate candidates for Ekiti ministerial slot, “APC stated.