33 out of 36 ministerial nominees fail litmus test

New revelations have indicated that the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to announce his ministers after almost two months in office is connected to discrepancies including misappropriation of funds traced to the ministerial nominees, Sunday Tribune reports.

Investigation teams reportedly revealed shocking security reports on the alleged fraud and misappropriation of funds by 33 nominees short-listed by President Muhammadu Buhari, with only three said to have passed the corruption test.

Sources said that 36 ministerial nominees were penciled in and submitted by the All Progressives Congress (APC). After passing through the filters of the Department of State Security (DSS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), and the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) for forensic screening, only three nominees came out clean.

President Buhari had insisted from the onset that he wanted to appoint people without corruption baggage that could taint administration and inhibit his anti-corruption drive.

It was also gathered that the president was shocked by the amount of money quantified in several transactions cutting across several sectors of the economy, including oil and gas, finance, power, governance and infrastructural commitments, where the persons involved failed the nation, thus contributing to its current decadence.

Consequently, President Buhari is said to have rescheduled the new date for the submission of his list of ministerial nominees to the Senate for approval to September, during which it is hoped that he would have prepared a new list that will be screened and those that scaled the integrity huddle, presented for confirmation.

A source said: “Buhari has said anybody with skeleton in the closet will not work with him irrespective of the role he or she played. If such persons are around him, it means he may be pressurised to compromise his principled stance

So they are trying to push him to a corner, because the truth is that they cannot seem to read or understand his body language. They have now seen that Buhari is ready to sacrifice anybody for Nigeria to move forward."