Nigeria's Buhari Sends Names of Ministerial Nominees to Replace Ocholi, Mohammed

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday night forwarded the names of two ministerial nominees to the Senate as replacements for the late Mr. James Enojo Ocholi (SAN) and Mrs. Amina Mohammed.

Although the names of the two nominees could not be verified at press time, a presidency source confirmed that the letter had been sent to Senate President Bukola Saraki, who will be expected to read the president’s letter on the nominations at plenary on Wednesday.

The source said the nominees who are from Kogi and Gombe States would respectively replace the late Ocholi, who along with his wife and son died tragically in a car accident a year ago, and Mrs.
Mohammed who stepped down from the cabinet to take up the post of Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations last month.

The source also informed newsmen that a cabinet reshuffle was in the offing and would most likely take place in the next few weeks after the two nominees might have been confirmed by the Senate.

“After the screening and confirmation of the two nominees from Kogi and Gombe States, Mr. President would most likely reshuffle his cabinet to accommodate the new ministers and move others where he thinks they are better suited.

“As you know, 34 of his ministers have been in the cabinet for almost 18 months, which has enabled the president to assess their strengths and weaknesses.

“On this basis, he would move some of them around to reengineer the cabinet and get the ministers cracking on delivering on the promises made by the administration to the Nigerian people,” he said.