•Asks Nigerians to pray for Tinubu to make right decision
* Governors, predecessors fight dirty
Senate Majority Leader Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele has revealed that President Bola Tinubu’s eagerly awaited Ministerial list will be received by the Senate within the next 24 hours, Wednesday.
He said that President Tinubu personally informed him of the development when he called to wish him (Bamidele) a happy 60th birthday earlier that morning.
Senator Bamidele stated this at a lecture marking his diamond jubilee birthday and book presentation held in Abuja on Tuesday.
He claimed that at 10:03am, the President called him to inform him that he would be unable to attend the birthday speech and book presentation due to a communication that needed to be made to the Senate within the next 48 hours.
Quoting Tinubu, Bamidele said: “Let me tell you and you must encourage me, I need to make myself unavailable for the next 24 hours because a correspondence must come to the Senate, a very crucial correspondence
“So, Mr President prayed for me. We should tell the rest of Nigerians to pray for him to be able to make the right decision within the next 24 hours so that when Nigerians hear the list of his ministers, they will say ‘yes, this is uncommon’. And join us to pray for Mr President. He needed to be away from any kind of influence.”
Meanwhile, speaking at the event, the guest lecturer and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Toyin Ogundipe, lamented the high cost of governance and expensive lifestyle of political office-holders, calling for sacrifice on their part before ordinary Nigerians would be able to do the same.
He cited an example of a situation where both Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) are part of the convoy of the President and the Vice President, saying they have no business in the convoys of President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima once the Police are in the convoy.
The former VC said that there was the need for political office-holders to reduce the number of vehicles in their convoy to show to Nigerians that they feel their pains at this period.
Ogundipe said, “There is a need for our leaders to reduce the number of vehicles in their convoy so that Nigerians will know that you feel their pains.
“There is nothing VIO, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) are doing in the entourage of the President and Vice President once you have Police in the convoy.”
Speaking on the issue of insecurity in Nigeria, Prof. Ogundipe said that the challenge is a global problem, noting that there were more crimes in the countries condemning Nigeria but it was possible for them to change the narrative because they control the cyber space.
For his part, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, lamented that Governors in Nigeria always fight their predecessors immediately after they resume office.
Akpabio, however, applauded the celebrant for his loyalty to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for over 30 years when he first served as an aide to him in the National Assembly in 1992.
Akpabio, who expressed displeasure with the attitude of governors to their predecessors in office, said there is no former governor that has not have issue with his successor, citing instances involving Senator Adams Oshiohmole, Senator Adamu Aliero, who were governors of Edo and Kebbi States respectively.
The President of the Senate said, “The Governor of Ekiti State is a great example of what leadership should be, he has remained steadfast.
“As a governor, the moment you hand over power to your successor, he will turn on you, either his taste will change or attitude, there is no any governor in Nigeria that has no problem with their successor apart from Ekiti governor. That’s why we have to celebrate Senator Micheal Opeyemi Bamidele for that kind of person.”