President Muhammadu Buhari said in South Africa that he is not in a hurry to appoint his ministers because of the late submission of the handing over notes from his predecessor in office, President Goodluck Jonathan as he sets to visit Cameroun.
Tongues have been wagging over why the ministerial nominees list has not been sent to the National Assembly but Buhari explained that he was taking his time to know the situation on ground before doing so.
President Buhari who spoke with the AFP at the on going African Union meeting said his visit to Cameroun is primarily to cementing the cordial relationship between the two countries over security challenges to enable the Cameounian soldiers enter into the country while pursuing the Boko Haram terrorists.
“I am not in a hurry to get ministers. I want to get ministers after at least I have seen this report, so that I don’t have to appoint a minister today and sack him next week,” President Buhari reportedly said.
Buhari who reminded the people when the reports for the handing over was given to him further said, “I don’t know why people are so anxious to have ministers, but eventually we will have.”
He explained that audits were currently being carried out in various government departments — and the finance and petroleum ministries in particular — to try and establish what situation they were left in by the previous administration.
According to him, he is planning to visit Cameroon to cement a regional fighting force against Boko Haram.
President Buhari had met his counterparts from Niger, Chad and Benin at a summit in Abuja last week but Cameroon’s leader Paul Biya was noticeably absent and represented by his defence minister.
The two countries have long had strained ties, in part over a bitter territorial dispute but also after Boko Haram mounted cross-border raids into northeast Nigeria from Cameroon’s far north.
Buhari visited Niger and Chad in his first week in office and said he would have gone to Cameroon’s capital Yaounde for talks with Biya had he not been invited to attend the G7 summit in Germany.
“But on my return to Nigeria now, I will try to go to Cameroon,” he reportedly said on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Johannesburg.
Meanwhile, the military authorities yesterday disclosed that scores of heavily armed terrorists using women and children as shield died on Sunday when they attacked Babangida in Yobe State.
“While their action was being foiled by troops on Sunday. Over 10 rifles and weapon accessories as well as hundreds of rounds of ammunition and some Hand Grenades were also recovered from the terrorists as some of them fled with gunshot wounds.
“One soldier and a vigilante member however died, while 5 were wounded during the encounter”, the DHQ said in the tweet.
LEADERSHIP recalled that it was last week at Abuja summit where an 8,700-strong regional force involving the five countries was approved to replace an ad hoc coalition of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
source: Leadership.ng
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