There was an uproar and mild drama in the Senate on Tuesday,
as senators continued with the screening of President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial
nominees.
The drama started when former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai
escaped the Senate’s axe as Senator Sunday Karimi (APC Kogi West) moved against
him over an alleged petition to stop his screening.
Senator Karimi, who disclosed that the petition, which he
was holding in a brown envelope, borders on the issue of insecurity, said: “Mr
President, I have a petition written against the nominee over the issue of
insecurity in Southern Kaduna when he was governor. If I am permitted, I will
like to read the petition.”
As El-Rufai was about to comment on the alleged petition, most senators opposed it with loud murmurs of “no, no, no” while the Senate President stopped him.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who refused to take
the petition, said a number of petitions were submitted against some of the
ministerial nominees, explaining that the chamber is not to entertain petitions
against any nominee.
He said: “This is not the place to consider petitions, we
will sit with the petitions later and refer them to relevant authorities.
Please, take a bow and go, my brother.”
El-Rufai had earlier reeled out his achievements as governor
and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, after which he
answered questions from the lawmakers.
But Senator Suleiman Kwari (PDP Kaduna North), appealed to
his colleagues to allow the former governor to take a bow and go.
All three Senators from Kaduna State, who are incidentally
members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), supported the
screening of El-Rufai for confirmation as a minister.
The Senate, however, grilled a nominee from Ogun State and
former Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Olawale Edun for more than an
hour, during which he posited that Nigeria has no justification being poor,
given the country’s enormous blessings of human and material resources in the
land.
Edun was particularly subjected to interrogation by the
lawmakers, making him to answer questions as if had been appointed the Minister
of Finance.
He told the senators that Nigeria had all it takes to be
successful given its vast human and material resources, stressing that all that
was necessary was a clear vision and commitment to set the country on the path
of economic growth and development.
Edun said that he accepted the call to serve, hoping to
re-enact the success story of Lagos when he served as Commissioner in Tinubu’s
cabinet then, as governor.
The economist expressed support for fuel subsidy removal and
the unification of foreign exchange, admitting, however, that both policies
have come with serious pain for the citizenry.
Edun expressed optimism that the pains would soon give way
for gains and sustainable economic development.
The Senate also gave a reasonable period of time to the
ministerial nominee from Katsina State, Musa Dangiwa, who was alleged to have
rushed to pay his tax for the last three years just last week because of his
nomination.
The last nominee to be screened for the day, who is the
Special Adviser to the President on Arts, Culture and Entertainment, Barrister
Hannatu Musawa, gave in to emotions as tears rolled down her cheeks during the
screening.
She was still presenting long introductory remarks when the
Senate President stopped him, saying she was not presenting a presidential
address.
Immediately, Akpabio stopped his remarks, the senator
representing Adamawa North Senatorial District, Elisha Abbo, rose up after
being recognised and pleaded with his colleagues to take a bow and go since
she’s a well-known Nigerian with an intimidating resume.
His prayer was approved by the majority of lawmakers in
session, while the Senate President banged the gavel.
In all, the Senate was able to screen nine of the nominees,
while the remaining five among the first batch of the 28 nominees would have
their turn on Wednesday.
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