The Presidency has said reports by some mainstream and online media outfits on a purported ministerial list are mere fabrications.
It said the reports lacked credibility as they emanated from the imaginations of the writers.
Some media outlets, including a number of national dailies, went to town last week with reports that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had compiled a list of ministerial nominees.
They even said the President was about to screen the nominees, almost ready to submit same to the National Assembly for the usual screening and confirmation.
But the Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communication and Strategy, Mr. Dele Alake, who said he was amused by the reports on the ministerial list, dismissed them as mere speculations.
“About the ministerial list: the simple truth is that you know this is an executive presidency. We’re not running a parliamentary system. So, for the President, the buck stops on his table. He decides when it’s fit and proper for him to make his cabinet list.
“So, we are not unaware of all the speculations and innuendos and rumours; all kinds of things in the media. Now, I, as a media man, chuckled to myself that people just want to sell; so, they just fabricate.”
“I can tell you: all of those things you’ve been reading in the media are mere fabrications. There is no iota of truth in all of those things. When the President is good and ready, you will be the first to know about his intentions,” he said.
Alake also said President Tinubu’s meetings with opposition figures had nothing to do with the formation of his cabinet.
He said Wednesday’s visit to the President by a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) under the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Senator Anyim Pius Ayim, and former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, was meant to commend President Tinubu for the steps he had taken so far.
He praised them for their courage and sincerity.
