The senate has commenced the
screening of ministerial nominees submitted to it by President Muhammadu
Buhari.
The nominees arrived just as the
senators were commencing plenary on Wednesday to begin their screening.
This is even as two senators
kicked against the exclusion of the federal capital territory from the
ministerial list of 43 nominees.
Each of the 36 states have one
nominee with some states having two.
There was, however, no nominee
from the FCT, a point first raised during the plenary by Philip Aduda
representing the capital territory.
Aduda called the attention of his
colleagues to the “unconstitutional” exclusion of the FCT from the list.
He said the national assembly is
the “state house of assembly for the FCT” and that his constituents are
aggrieved over the exclusion.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan
responded that the order has been noted and that he believes the executive have
noted it as well.
But Dino Melaye from Kogi east
raised the mater again, drawing the attention of his colleagues to section 297
of the 1999 constitution part of which said “the FCT shall be treated as if it
were one of he states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
“To give constitutional tilt to
the appeal by the FCT senator, it is a constitutional point of duty for the FCT
to be represented,” he said.
“If the constitution had said it
shall be treated as if it is one of the states and the constitution says all
states shall have one minister, I think it is very clear.”
Lawan, once again, said the point
of order has been noted and proceeded to commence the screening process.
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