The Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayo Fayose has written to President Muhammadu Buhari asking to be given the privilege to nominate competent candidate to fill Ekiti slot in the Federal Executive Council.
In a letter he personally signed dated 31st May 2015, Fayose said that if the request is favoured by the President he would send a worthy and competent Ekiti professional for appointment in the federal executive council.
He said: “Should the request be favourably disposed to, I shall be happy to nominate a worthy and competent professional who can always oblige your Excellency and your cabinet the benefit of a second opinion in the serious business of governance”.
He noted that he wrote the letter based on the declaration made by the President that he would put overall interest of the country above every other particularly political partisanship and biases.
The governor also hinted that his letter was on the strength of the 1999 constitution, section 147 sub (2) and (3) which states as follows: (2) Any appointment to the office of the Minister of the government of the Federation shall if the nomination of any such person to such office is confirmed by the Senate, be made by the President.
(3) Any appointment under sub- section (2) of this section by the President shall be in conformity with the provision of section 15 (3) of this constitution provided that in giving effect to the provision aforesaid, the President shall appoint at least one Minister from each state who shall be indigene of such state.
Maintaining that Ekiti is being controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party State where the state Governor, the National Assembly and the State Assembly members are all PDP, said that in the spirit of emplacing an all inclusive government with capacity for national integration, the President should accord him the honour and privilege to name the minister that will come from Ekiti State.
He explained that this is not new to the country’s democracy, saying that late Chief Bola Ige who was the leader of the Alliance for Democracy and the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Abdukadri were made Minister and Special Adviser respectively by the PDP Government of Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007.
