Atiku promises to have his cabinet ready to start ion day one as he picks Peter Obi as his running mate

PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate former vice president Atiku Abubakar has promised that his cabinet will be ready to start work on the very day he is sworn-in after picking former Anambra State governor Peter Obi as his running mate yesterday.

Last weekend, Alhaji Abubakar, 71, emerged as the PDP's flagbearer for next year's presidential elections and yesterday cemented candidacy by picking Governor Obi as his running mate. Considered a prudent manager of public resources, not ostentatious and possessing a good business brain, having been a bank chairman before, Governor Obi, 61, was picked for being younger and for his knowledge of economics.

Pointing out that this is the beginning of his campaign, Alhaji Abubakar promised that if elected as the next president his cabinet members will be ready before May 29 next year. Nigeria goes to the polls in February by the new government will not be sworn in until May and in the past, it has taken months after this for cabinets to be ready.

In a tweet yesterday, Alhaji Abubakar took a swipe at the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, saying he will not take six months before naming his cabinet. Alhaji Abubakar also said that he would continue with the legacies of his former boss, ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo if he wins.

When President Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC) took office in 2015, it took six months for a cabinet to be formed and ambassadors were not named for another year after that. Heads of several parastatals were not named until this year, preventing the government from hitting the ground running.