Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday received
the ministerial nominees list at about 4:56pm from the Presidency but said the
content of the presidential communication would be read on Tuesday.
The Senate had adjourned plenary at 2:00pm on
Wednesday till Tuesday, October 6.
Sources said 21 names were contained in the list.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari,
in company with the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National
Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, delivered the list in a
sealed envelope to the Senate President in his office.
Saraki, who left the office around 5:30pm, later
spoke to journalists through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Alhaji
Yusuph Olaniyonu, explaining that the list would be read on the floor during
plenary Tuesday next week.
“The Senate president received the ministerial
list around 5:00pm this evening but no action would be taken on it until next
week Tuesday. The envelope is still sealed,” Olaniyonu told journalists.
But The PUNCH learnt that a former Lagos
State Governor, Babatunde Fashola; and a former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi
Amaechi, made the list.
Also said to be on the list are Kayode Fayemi, a
former governor of Ekiti State; a former Governor of Anambra State, Chris Ngige;
and a one-time Governor of Abia State, Ogbonaya Onu.
Malami Abubakar, SAN, a former National Legal
Adviser to the defunct Congress for Progressives Change; Aisha Alhassan, a
former governorship candidate of the APC in Taraba State; and Amina Mohammed, a
special adviser to the Secretary-General of the United nations, Ban Ki-Moon,
also made the ministerial list. Same for a former finance commissioner in Ogun
State, Kunle Adeosun.
Curiously, the Group Managing Director of the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ibe Kachikwu, is said to be on the
list, perhaps to combine his headship of the NNPC with junior petroleum
minister. portfolio. Buhari has already announced himself as the substantive
Minister of Petroleum.
The President had pledged that his ministerial
nominees would be submitted to the Senate for screening and approval before the
end of September thus raising fears on Wednesday that Buhari had failed to keep
his promise to Nigerians.
Also, the Senate had earlier on Wednesday
announced that the President had yet to send the list of ministers.
The Chairman, Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Media
and Publicity, Dino Melaye, who addressed journalists shortly after the Senate
had adjourned to Tuesday next week, however urged Nigerians not to lose hope
because the September deadline given by Buhari would not expire until midnight.
Melaye had said, “We want to announce that we are
still waiting for the ministerial list from Mr. President and I want to advise
that there is no need for agitation as September expires by 12 midnight today
(Wednesday).
“We want to assure Nigerians that as soon as we
get possession of this list we will communicate same to Nigerians through the
National Assembly Press Corps.”
He had also reiterated his earlier statement that
the Senate “will attend to the ministerial nominees expeditiously but
diligently, once the list was sent by the President.”
“Due process will be followed and I repeat that
it is not going to be business as usual; we are going to properly screen all
nominees and only those who meet the constitutional and moral requirements
shall be cleared,” he had added.
Melaye explained that the Senate would as from
next week start the consideration of all the communication earlier presented to
it by the President concerning some appointments made while the Senate was on
recess.
Buhari had on Tuesday sent a letter to the
Senate, seeking the confirmation of the appointment of Prof. Umaru Garba
Danbatta as the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications
Commission, for a first term of five years.
Buhari in another letter sought the confirmation
of the appointment of Dr. William Babatunde Fowler as Executive Chairman of the
Federal Inland Revenue Board for a four-year term while in another letter, the
President sought the confirmation of the appointment of the Managing Director
and three executive directors for the Assets Management Company of Nigeria.
The nominees are Kuru as Managing Director; Kola
Ayeye, Eberechukwu Uneze and Aminu Ismail as executive directors.
However, the Senate Minority Leader, Godswill
Akpabio, had during plenary on Tuesday expressed concern that the Senate
president did not read out the list of ministerial nominees despite the fact
that newspapers had reported that it was in the Senate.
Akpabio, who had raised a point of order, citing
order 14, also noted that the situation became worrisome in view of the fact
that the September 30 deadline promised by Buhari would lapse on Wednesday.
But Akpabio’s argument had been countered by the
Deputy Senate Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, who explained that the list could
still be sent before midnight on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Senator representing Osun Central
Senatorial District, Prof. Olusola Adeyeye, was on Wednesday announced as the
Senate Chief Whip by Saraki.
Adeyeye was unanimously endorsed by the
South-West caucus of the All Progressives Congress in the red chamber on June
24.
His name was on the list of principal officers
approved by the APC leadership as contained in a letter addressed to the Senate
president by the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie – Oyegun, on
June 23.
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