Presidency says agitation for Buhari's cabinet list unnecessary

The presidency has dismissed the agitation over President Muhammadu Buhari's yet-to-be-announced cabinet list as unnecessary.

Buhari was sworn in for a second term on May 29, 2019, but has not made his cabinet appointments public yet, a subject of unending public discourse.

While speaking during an interview on Arise News on Wednesday, June 26, Buhari's spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said the cabinet list will be announced soon, but that the agitation for it was needless.

The president's media aide noted that the list cannot be made public until the National Assembly is back from recess on July 2.

He said, "The cabinet list will come any moment. But then, I think that the agitation over whether it should have come before now or not is not really necessary because the National Assembly got inaugurated on June 11th and after that went on recess immediately to reconvene on July 2nd.

"If the cabinet list is going to be transmitted, it's going to be sent to the Senate President. So, the Senate is on recess till July 2nd. I think we do not need to have all the agitation over it just yet."

When he was inaugurated for his first term in May 2015, Buhari did not announce a cabinet until October, blaming the delay on the previous government's decision to not cooperate with his transition committee.

However, Adesina assured that the announcement of the president's second term cabinet will not take as long as it did four years ago.

"Let's not forget the president has said that his cabinet list for the second term will not take as long as the six months it took in the first term.

"We don't expect that it'll take that long. In fact, it'll not take long at all," he said.

Adesina also disclosed that the president is making ongoing consultations about the list.