Indications emerged last week that the jostle for inclusion in the cabinet of the next federal administration had intensified as some Muslims pleaded with President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give more ministerial appointments to members of their faith than their Christian counterparts.
They begged Tinubu to give Muslims in Muslim-majority states at least four ministerial appointments per geo-political zone after his inauguration.
There are six states in each of the six geo-political zones viz South-South, South-West, North-Central, North-East, and North-West. Only the South-East has five states.
The 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides that each of the 36 states of the federation must have one native in the federal cabinet.
Section 6, Part 1, Section 147 of the Constitution, titled, ‘Ministers of Federal Government’, says specifically: “3 – Any appointment under Subsection 2 by the President shall conform with the provisions of Section 14 (3) of this Constitution: provided that in giving effect to the provisions aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one Minister from each state who shall be an indigene of such state”.
The Muslims’ lobby implies that in any geo-political zone where people of their faith are in the majority, Muslims should have four Ministers in the Tinubu cabinet while Christians should be contented with two.
