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Nearly two months after taking over as Nigerian president, Umaru Yar'adua is set to unveil his new government on Thursday, a presidential spokesman said.
LAGOS (AFP) - Nearly two months after taking over as Nigerian president, Umaru Yar'adua is set to unveil his new government on Thursday, a presidential spokesman said.
Following a long interview process by the Senate of the president's ministerial nominees, the new Federal Executive Council with representatives from Nigeria's 36 states will be officially installed Thursday in Abuja, said spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi on Wednesday.
Despite official denials, several political and media sources have said that there was a behind-the-scenes battle led by opponents of the new president and his predecessor Olusegun Obasanjo, who claim that the ex-leader wants to install certain people close to him in the new administration.
The opposing forces won one round when the senate rejected the nomination of Obasanjo's former budget director and special advisor, Bode Augusto.
"It's a time of power struggles," one foreign analyst said recently.
Nigerian media has said that the absence of a government since Yar'adua took office on May 29 has raised questions about how much influence Obasanjo still has, since Yar'adua was the former president's handpicked candidate to succeed him in April's election.
Certain editorials pointed out that when ex-general Obasanjo came to power in 1999, he installed a government team within three days.
Some of Nigeria's key economic sectors, especially oil, have been concerned about the lack of a ministerial contact for weeks and that pending contracts have been stalled.