The atmosphere at the senate was
charged on Friday after Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi west, asked
Festus Keyamo, ministerial nominee from Delta state, to recite the second
stanza of the national anthem.
Melaye made the request while
asking the nominee questions during the ministerial screening.
The senator had started by
describing Keyamo as his good friend, saying “our relationship dates back to
years”.
“I want to start by
congratulating my friend, Festus Keyamo. I just want to start by saluting your
intellectually sagacity and from your CV, you have practised law in and out and
this practice has been so recognised by you getting the highest title any
lawyer can earn in this country, a senior advocate of Nigeria, and your being a
prosecutor for the EFCC for so many years,” he said.
“I want to ask you as a qualified
lawyer and a man who is even qualified for the office of the attorney general
of the federation. Peradventure the president send you to the ministry of
justice with all your experiences, do you think in the last four years, the
power of the attorney general met these three conditions: public interest,
interest of justice and need to prevent abuse of legal process.”
He then asked Keyamo to recite
the second stanza of the national anthem.
“I just want to say that as a
versatile minister, I know you to be intellectually mobile, you recite the
second stanza of the national anthem,” he said.
The request was met with a
thunderous “no oooo” but Melaye stood his ground even after his microphone was
switched off.
Shouting on the top of his voice,
the Kogi lawmaker said: “Mr Chairman, screening as it has been described is
meant for us to screen the candidates…”
But Senate President Ahmad Lawan
overruled Melaye.
“That is not a question. So you
have asked about two question. You have asked very serious questions, so you
can disregard the other part,” he said.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com