A Presidency source has reacted to a list in circulation purportedly allocating portfolios to the ministerial nominees recently confirmed by the Senate.
Obviously taking a cue from President Buhari’s statement on Friday that there used to be 42 ministers “but we will be lucky if we can have half of that now,” the list allocated exactly 21 (half of 42) portfolios to some of the ministerial nominees.
In addition, the list omitted the names of ministers from Jigawa, Sokoto, Taraba and Nasarawa without any explanations.
The list which has since gone viral especially in the social media, however was neither signed by any government official nor attributed to anyone.
But the presidency source, “the president has not allocated any portfolios. He has not finalised anything. If he has done so, it is still close to his chest, so it is impossible for anyone to claim that the portfolios have been allocated or that it has been announced.”
Another presidential aide said the allocation of portfolios is not likely to be done until Wednesday morning. “People are being creative and trying to second-guess the president, but to pass this off as the authoritative list is nonsense,” the aide said.
“These speculations are not necessary. On Wednesday when the cabinet will most likely be inaugurated, portfolios will be assigned. No announcement will be made before then,” the aide said.
