By Gideon Njoku
President Muhammadu Buhari surprised not a few people in the allocation of portfolios to members of his cabinet who were inaugurated on Wednesday.
If Nigerians were surprised that the President still retained the portfolio of the Minister of Petroleum, more suprising was the appointment of former Bayelsa Gocernor, Timipre Sylva, as the Minister of State, Petroleum.
Of course Nigerians knew that the position of the junior minister would go to the South, if the President, against all expectations, retains the office of the Minister for Petroleum, but Sylva did not come into calculation. The expectation was that it would go to somebody with a background in Petroleum Resources, which was why many thought it would go to Goddy Jedi Agba, Cross Rivers State.
But Mr President, in his wisdom, gave it to Sylva whose closest association to the oil industry was being a Personal Assistant to a former Managing Director of the NNPC, Edmund Dakoru, who is now a King.
Since Sylva decamped to the APC from the PDP, his once dimmed political sun has risen more than expected. As the Governor of Bayelsa state under the PDP, the party denied him a second term in favour of the incumbent Seriaki Dickson. Since then, he had tried to go back to that office without success.
When the EFFC siezed his houses, allegedly, 36 in number, not a few people thought he was gone, politically. But, the houses were not only, suddenly, given back to him, he was given a huge contract by the NDDC, and paid for, fully, immediately.
That empowered him to vie for the last governorship election. It was in vain. But he was compensated with the Chairmanship of a lucrative board in the oil and gas sector. Now, he has become the boss. Anything he does not understand in the sector, King Dakoru will be there to guide him. More, the position will give a lot of patronage for the APC in Bayelsa, and give the party to fight more than ever in the upcoming governorship election in the state.
Of course, the President has also whittled the powers of Hon Ministers Babatunde Fashola and Chibuike Amaechi. Both were super ministers in their first outing as cabinet members. While Fashola minded Power/Works/Housing, Amaechi minded Transportation which had Aviation under it.
No longer.
Fashola has been stripped of the biggest one – Power. He is to mind only Works & Housing.
Amaechi has, also, been stripped of the glamourous Aviation Ministry.
Another suprise was the appointment of two South-southerners to head the Ministry of Niger Delta. While Senator Godswill Akpabio, former Akwa Ibom governor is the senior minister, Festus Keyamo, SAN, is the junior minister.
Then, surprisingly, inspite of the uproar over the headship of Security Agencies in the country, the North has not only retained the office of the Minister for Defence, it also takes the office of the re-established Minister for Police Affairs.
