MINISTERIAL NOMINEES: Drama as Tinubu makes last minute change, removes Shettima for Ganduje’s ex-Commissioner Bunkure, Keyamo
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
The appointment of ministers by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took a dramatic turn on Friday, when Dr Maryam Shettima from Kano State, North West Nigeria, was removed the ministerial nominees’ list and was not informed of her removal until she got to the venue of her legislative screening at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.
It was a scene that many commentators have described as unprecedentedly embarrassing for a young and committed party woman, whose spirit had earlier been lifted upon receipt of news about her enlistment as ministerial nominee.
Maryam, according to a video that has gone viral, had done a lot of ‘sujud shukrah‘ that is prostration of appreciation to God over a good thing that happens to his slave and prayed for President Tinubu while praising him, only for her to arrive the venue of her screening and she was informed ‘your name is no longer on the list’.
President Tinubu removed Shettima and replaced her with Mariya Mahmoud Bunkure, a former Commissioner for Higher Education in Kano State under the immediate-past administration of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
Perhaps it was the sudden ammendment that paved the way for Mr. Festus Keyamo to get on the list in what has been viewed as compensation for the role he (Keyamo) played during his (Tinubu’s) campaign period.
Festus Keyamo’s name was missing as Tinubu’s final list got to the National Assembly until the time he wrote a fresh letter for the ammendment that eventually paved the way for his campaign official spokesman on the nominees’ list.
This was announced when Senate President Godswill Akpabio read out a letter by the President at Friday’s plenary session.
According to Akpabio, Mariya Mahmoud Bunkure is to replace Shettima as a ministerial nominee from Kano State while Keyamo was named to represent Delta State.
Tinubu dropped Maryam Shettima from Kano State without providing any reason for the sudden replacement of the female ministerial nominee, whose name was sent alongside 18 others as second batch of 19 Ministerial Nominees, to the Senate on Wednesday, August 2.
It was, however, speculated that the sudden change was function of Ganduje’s emergence as National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in a way believed to be extention of his control of the party in Kano State.
This addition now takes the total number of ministerial nominees to 48.
How Shetty learnt about her removal
Maryam Shetty, who was listed for screening on Friday by the Senate, got a shock of her life when she was informed of her replacement at the National Assembly complex.
According to the Senate’s Order Paper for Friday, August 4, 2023, Shetty was reportedly listed as nominee number 12 to be attended to by the Senators. She had arrived the parliament building at about 10.40am for the screening exercise brimming with smiles while exchanging pleasantries with those that came her way.
She went dumbfounded when the news of her replacement broke out via another communication sent to the Senate by President Tinubu Friday morning.
Tinubu told the Senate to replace Shettima with Dr. Mariya Mahmoud Bunkure, a former Commissioner for Higher Education in Kano State under the immediate-past administration of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
