How Battle For 2023, Cabal Influence Ministerial Allotment

President Mohammadu Buhari on Wednesday swore in his 43-member new cabinet into office as he as assigned portfolio to them with sources claimed that positioning for the presidential election in 2023 influenced the choice of who gets what in the new federal executive.
At the swearing-in of the new cabinet, President Buhari directed the newly sworn-in ministers to channel all their meeting requests to him through his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari.
Sources said the Aso-Rock cabal, headed by the chief of staff, Kyari practically dictated the assignment of portfolio to the new ministers as the scheming who will emerge the candidate of the ruling All Progressive Party (APC) come 2023 played a significant role in the placement of the ministers in the president's cabinet.
“As I said yesterday (Tuesday), in terms of coordinating communication, kindly ensure that all submissions for my attention or meeting requests be channeled through the Chief of Staff while all Federal Executive Council matters be coordinated through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in order to speed up the process of decision-making,” the President told the ministers at their inaugurations.
Sources said the president statement confirmed the power play in the presidency to influence who get the ticket for the ruling party in the 2023 general election.
On Wednesday, former Bayesal State Governor Timipre Silva emerged as the junior minister of petroleum while the president retains the substantive position in the oil ministry.
“We have seen an exodus of the more capable and technocratic ministers and in their place, there are politically connected replacements,” said Malte Liewerscheidt, vice president at Teneo Intelligence.
Babatunde Fashola, a former governor of Lagos State was named the minister of Housing and Work, excluding his former portfolio of Power Ministry which is now headed by Sale Mamman, a businessman and former ministry of works official.
Apart from what appears to be a reward for those who helped the president to win the last presidential election, others in the cabinet were positioned to help solidify the party’s base in some parts of the country ahead of elections in 2023.
The distributions of the portfolio was designed also to influence where the candidate for the ruling party will emerge in the 2023 election.
Sources said the cabal in the presidency are scheming for a candidate from the Northern part of the country, to upset the arrangement on the ground which favoured rotations of the presidency between the south and the northern part of the country.
The sources pointed to the fact that the distributions of the senior members of the cabinet were in favour of the north, apparently to kick-start the campaign for the 2023 election.