Senate to screen Amaechi, eight others Tuesday – Spokesperson

Sunday Aborisade, Abuja

The Senate on Thursday postponed further screening and confirmation of the remaining 18 ministerial nominees till next week.

Our correspondent learnt that the Senate suspended further screening till next week to enable it to deal with petitions against some nominees as well as provide enough time for the ministers-to-be to supply necessary documentation that would assist senators during the screening.

Rotimi Amaechi

The PUNCH correspondent reported that nominees on the second list submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday besieged the office of Ita Enang, the Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), to submit their resumes.

Senate spokesperson, Dino Melaye, confirmed that further screening and confirmation of the remaining ministerial nominees had been slated for Tuesday next week.

He said, “We are going to screen nine of them on Tuesday and the remaining nine would be taken on Wednesday. The confirmation of all the nominees would be taken on Wednesday.”

Melaye allayed fears about the fate of a former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

He said Amaechi, whose name was part of the first batch submitted by Buhari on September 30, would be among the nine nominees that would be screened on Tuesday.

The former governor ought to have been screened along with the 18 nominees screened and confirmed this week but for the unavailability of the report of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, which treated a petition against his nomination.

The Chairman of the committee, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, told the Senate on Tuesday and Wednesday when Amaechi was slated for screening that the report of his committee was not ready.

An All Progressives Congress senator from the North-West, told our correspondent that many Peoples Democratic Party senators were still against the confirmation of Amaechi.

The senator said, “The PDP senators are against the confirmation of Amaechi because they believe that the fraud allegation levelled against him had taken an international dimension, which ought to be properly investigated.

“Some APC senators are also sceptical about the confirmation because they believe that a former minister had allegedly volunteered some information about  Amaechi that ought to be investigated before the screening and eventual confirmation as minister.”

But the senate spokesperson said,  “The committee has a one line report that the matter is in court and that in compliance with our laid down rules and regulations that any case that is undergoing judicial process cannot be discussed.

“We have distanced ourselves from it and the report will be presented on Tuesday (next week) by the grace of God and I assure Nigerians that former Governor Rotimi Amaechi, by the grace of God, will be screened on Tuesday.”

Meanwhile, Senator Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto East), on Thursday, submitted a petition against the nomination of Ms Aisha Abubakar, one of the second-batch nominees.

Our correspondent learnt from one of the three senators from Sokoto State that Abubakar was rejected by the entire women in Sokoto State because she is from Tambuwal, the same place with Governor Aminu Tambuwal.

Gobir, who submitted the petition against Abubakar, said his people were demanding “her replacement with a more competent person.”

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, referred the petition to the Anyanwu-led committee for necessary legislative action before the screening next week.

However, investigation by our correspondent on Thursday revealed that the upper chamber could have changed its earlier screening strategy while carrying out their exercise this week because of the feedback it got from members of the public.

The Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu, had told journalists last week that the Senate screening modalities would not be rigid and static as inputs would be collected from members of the public.

A senator, who craved anonymity, explained to our correspondent on Thursday that the modalities had been reviewed at the closed session held on Tuesday where the “rigid and thorough” screening process was adjusted and made more relaxed.

Saraki, meanwhile, on Thursday,  formally communicated to Buhari the confirmation by the Senate  of 18 nominees whose names were among those forwarded to the legislative body on September 30 for consideration for ministerial positions.

Saraki, in an official letter sent through Enang, informed the President that the Senate had found the 18 nominees suitable