…45 of the nominees confirmed
…Keyamo Apologised
Three ministerial nominees out of the 48 submitted for screening at the Senate could not the list of the set of people confirmed by the Senate yesterday, Monday as minister.
The immediate past governor of Kaduna State’s name, Nasir el-Rufai was not included among those that have been successfully and confirmed by the senate.
The names of Senator Abubakar Danlandi from Taraba State and former Nexim Bank, Managing director of Nigeria, Export and Import NEXIM) Bank, Stella Oketette (Delta State) was also missing
The Senate after the screening exercise which took place about them a week approved and confirmed a total of 45 out of the 48 nominees sent by President Bola Tinubu.
During the screening of former governor El-Rufai, petitions including those sent by Senator Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West) were presented against him.
The lawmaker representing Kogi West, during the ministerial screening, moved against the former Kaduna State governor.
Karimi, after El-Rufai’s presentations, stood up and told the chamber that he had a petition written against the former governor over the issue of insecurity in Southern Kaduna.
He said, “Your performance in any office you find yourself in the country has been outstanding. In the bureau of public enterprises, your record is there, in FCT as a minister, your record is there, and as two-time governor of Kaduna state, you did well.”
Raising a brown envelope, Karimi further stated, “But, I have a very strong petition against you that borders on security, unity, and cohesiveness of the Nigerian nation.
“And I think that the petition has to be considered in this screening exercise.”
Karimi then proceeded to lay the petition before Jibrin Barau, the deputy senate president, who was presiding over the screening exercise at the time.
Barau in response said, “I don’t know if you followed the normal process, but this is the opportunity for nominees to explain and showcase themselves, later we will come to confirmation and approval.”
Other senators commended el-Rufai, noting that the former governor is competent enough to be a minister.
Also, the lawmaker representing Kaduna North, Ibrahim Kalid, said he and his two colleagues from the state, as well as all the residents, are in support of el-Rufai’s nomination as minister.
Meanwhile, after making his presentation, the Senate President at the plenary refused to take the petition, leveled against the former governor and said a number of petitions were submitted against a number of the ministerial nominees.
Akpabio 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, my brother.”
There was also a petition against Dalandi about a court judgment restricting him from holding public office for 10 years.
Okotette, also, has a series of petitions against her, some of which are already in the Public domain, she was accused of non-disclosure of assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau.
Meanwhile, Festus Keyamo, SAN, apologised to the Senate on Monday evening over his failure to honour invitations by the relevant legislative committee overseeing the Ministry of Labour and Productivity where he had served as a minister under the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
This followed a rowdy session at the Senate during his ministerial screening earlier in the day where Senator Darlington Nwokocha (Abia Central) accused Keyamo of disrespecting the Ninth National Assembly and accusing the last Assembly of being corrupt.
Tendering an apology “without reservation”, the former Minister of State for Labour and Productivity provided more insight into the circumstances.
“Maybe it was as a result of the lack of knowledge of the fact that this matter had long been resolved between us and the members of that committee,” he told the Senate with a more sombre disposition than hours earlier.
“Subsequently, there were so many hearings – budget defence and all that – we attended under a very convivial atmosphere. So, the apology is without reservation. I apologise.”
Earlier, Nwokocha moved a motion for the suspension of Keyamo’s ministerial screening.
The senator argued that during the Buhari administration, Keyamo was invited to explain a Special Public Works programme and did not honour the invitation.
Responding to the issues that had resulted in his summon, the lawyer stated that every single payment to the beneficiaries under the public works programme was paid directly from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the beneficiaries.
He further explained that the register with the names, account numbers and Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) of the beneficiaries was at the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and could be verified.