Nigerians yesterday, got a political baffling information about the replacement of Maryam Shetty, as a ministerial nominee, just few hours to her screening
Initially, Shetty’s nomination as a minister raised eyebrows, reasons being she is a young and relatively unknown politician from Kano State. However, her shocking replacement with another female nominee from Kano, Mariya Mahmoud, has set tongues wagging on the intriguing power play that precipitated the unfolding process.
Shetty, whose major political credential is her membership of the Presidential Campaign Team for President BolaTinubu, entered into national limelight when her name was one of the 19-man list submitted the second batch of ministerial nominees after the conclusion of the screening of the first batch.
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But the president shocked Nigerians on Friday with another correspondence to the Senate, informing them of two additional ministerial nominees and the withdrawal of Maryam Shetty.
GOOD EVENING NIGERIA reports that Shetty was replaced with Dr Mariya Mahmoud Bunkure, a former Commissioner for Higher Education in Kano State. Also, Festus Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former Minister of State for Labour and spokesman for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council during the presidential election, was included among the ministerial nominees. His absence on the previous lists had also raised some dusts.
However, the scenario that played out on Friday, leading to the announcement of the withdrawal of Shetty as a ministerial nominee, shocked many. This was because few minutes before the news of her removal came through, a short video of her at the National Assembly for screening had surfaced on the social media.
One of her associates, who confirmed the authenticity of the video to Daily Trust Newspaper said he was with her at the National Assembly for the screening when they heard of the development. The associate, who spoke in confidence, also said Shetty was shocked with the news and immediately for her home.
Shetty is yet to give any official statement after her replacement. Nevertheless, many Nigerians continue to wonder and sympathise what trauma the whole ‘disappointment’ and ’embarassment’ would have caused her.
Why Shetty was replaced.
According to Daily Trust, the immediate past governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who on Thursday emerged as the new national chairman of the ruling APC, nominated Bunkure, his former commissioner to replace Shetty.
Ganduje’s associates told our correspondent that the real power play that led to the swapping of Shetty with Bunkure is that she does not belong to the political family of the former governor. It was suspected that her name was “smuggled” into the list by a senior member of the presidency.
It was gathered that Ganduje was informed that the slot Shetty used to make the list should have gone to him; hence he was asked to nominate a replacement. This is more so as the other nominee from Kano, Abdullahi Tijjani Gwarzo, is Tinubu’s associate from their days in the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Thus, after Ganduje emerged as the national chairman of the party on Thursday at the party’s 12th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting and got the information that the president had been ‘misled’ in nominating Shetty, he started the process of “righting the wrongs,” his associates said.
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The president was surprised that the nomination of Shetty did not come from Ganduje, one of the sources said, adding that “the people that nominated her showed a picture she took with the former Kano governor to the president to make it look like she was in his group”.
On the manner in which the replacement was communicated, one of the associates of Ganduje said it was the president’s way of communicating to those that “smuggled” Shetty’s name into the list to know that he was in charge and was not happy.
“It was also to communicate that the national chairman has the hearing ears of the president, and it is a warning to whoever smuggled her
Kano is one of the strategic states the ruling party hopes to regain, and with the breakdown in talks with Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, whose New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) controls Kano, analysts said Tinubu may have concluded on consolidating his push for the state through the Ganduje camp.
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However, sources close to Shetty said that aside the insinuation that the young politician was reportedly nominated by the chief of staff to the president, another reason Ganduje sought and secured her replacement was because she had been vocal in the past against some of his policies when he held sway as governor, including the controversial deposition of former Emir Muhammadu Sanusi.
“Perhaps the insinuation that she was nominated by the chief of staff gained momentum because Shetty is Abuja-based although she is from Kano. This might be the reason the Kano APC family was not happy with her nomination.
“Another reason is that she is close with former Emir Muhammadu Sanusi and she was very vocal against his removal. You know she is very popular on social media, where she champions several causes, including women’s rights,” one of her associates in Kano who asked not to be named said.
(Source: Daily Trust)
