Buhari's Ministerial nominees and Senate’s screening

president Muhammadu Buhari

The wait for months came to an end as President Muhammadu Buhari kept to his September deadline for the announcement of his cabinet when he submitted   a list of 21 ministerial candidates to the Senate President penultimate Thursday, September 30.

He also promised to send the remaining nominees to the senate in a short while.

Though the Senate received the list on September 30, it was not read out to members and the general public until Tuesday last week.

The list of the ministerial nominees include former governors of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola (Lagos); his counterpart from Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and that of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); National Publicity Secretary of All progressives Congress (APC), Lai Mohammed (Kwara); former PDP National Chairman, Audu Ogbeh (Benue); Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu (Delta).

Others are: Senator Chris Ngige (Anambra); Senator Hadi Sirika (Katsina); Abubakar Malami (SAN) (Kebbi); Abdurahman Bello Dambazau (rtd) (Kano), Aisha AlHassan (Taraba); Barrister Adebayo Shittu (Oyo); Barrister Solomon Dalong (Plateau); Amina Ibrahim (Kaduna); Osagie Ehanire (Edo); Sulaiman Adamu (Jigawa); Kemi Adeosun (Ogun), Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi); Ahmed Ibeto (Niger); Ibrahim Jibril and Udoma Udo-Udoma (Akwa- Ibom).

After the reading out of the names of the ministerial nominees, the senate said the proper screening of the would be minister will begin this week Tuesday, thus leaving room for anxiety and fears among the nominees and their admirers.

The transmission of the ministerial nominees for screening and confirmation by the senate is in line with the provisions of section 147(2) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

The names on the list after months of speculation in the media did not bring many surprises and many of the names that have been flinging in the media eventually made it.

The reactions of Nigerians were, if these are the set of people that would be nominated while the delays as most of the first batch of ministers are those who had served at various government level in the past with few if any technocrats.

Also , the allegation of corruption   trailing some of the nominees made Nigerians to ask how Buhari will fight corruption with those people in the cabinet.

In his own reaction to the list of nominees, the National Secretary of the Labour Party, LP Barrister Kayode Ajulo, “the list happens to be confirming the fears of many that change, as touted by the APC, is little more than a fraudulent marketing gimmick that was used to take advantage of the desires and aspirations of Nigerians.

“Have you seen the list yourself? What resembles or symbolizes change in the entire list? Nothing”, he said.

“It confirms a common saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same. President Buhari has spent up to six months assembling a coterie of the same forces that have brought Nigeria to the sorry pass we are currently in. Honestly, it is not fair on the part of the President. It is not fair to the 16 million Nigerians that voted for him, neither is it fair to the entire nation who has accepted him as president.

“ What we have in the much anticipated list is an assemblage of the old guard, the average age on the list is 61 years old, very sad, whereas it is on record that 76% of the winning votes are those within the bracket age of 18-43 years old. Honestly, to say I am disappointed will be a gross understatement’, Ajulo said.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP which is the main opposition party in the country has also described the list of nominees as containing no surprises and wondered why it took Buhari so much time to put the list together.

A public opinion analyst, Comrade Bayo Okunlola said Buhari could as well named the cabinet at Eagle Square immediately after he was sworn-in to office if the names he released now is the ones he had in mind.

So as the Senate begins the screening on Tuesday, Nigerians are already calling on the senate
to do a thorough job and to depart from the old order where most nominees are just allow to take a bow and go.
Ajulo said for long, ministerial screening at the Senate has been a comedy of sorts.

“We have had cases where the nominee is directed to “take a bow, and go” exempting him or her from what should be a rigorous screening process to determine credibility and capability. The actual screening, when it is even conducted, has been somewhat lukewarm and half-hearted with the panel often being unwilling to ask the tough questions and to inquire into the background and antecedents of the nominee. “Now, given that the APC promised Nigerians change, I expect that it will not be business as usual any longer.
“I expect that the nominees will be required to give account of their stewardship in the various places where they have served prior to now. “The panel should address any and every allegations of misconduct regardless of whether it has been brought before the courts or not. The Senate, under the leadership of Senator Bukola Saraki, cannot afford to let Nigerians down now. Indeed they should not compromise or make light of their duty to screen this set of ministers painstakingly”, Ajulo said.
Also speaking on the planned screening of the nominees by the senate, the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL has tasked the Senate on the need to allow for open mind during the screening exercise

CACOL said its call is coming against the background of discordant tunes emanating from across the ranks of members of the red chambers.

“The body language of some vocal senators since the submission of the list by the president, has so far given a lead to what is likely to witness a war of allegiance rather a supposed constitutional exercise aimed at ensuring that those given the mandate to administer the affairs of governance as ministers are eminently qualified to do so.

“If the grapevine account is anything to go by, the senate, in the course of carrying out its duty in this regard, might turn out to be a ’house of commotion’ in which tent-pitching and premeditated vendetta, premised on political persuasion, take precedent over consideration for merit. This is why CACOL considers it expedient at this point in time, to remind members of the upper chambers that their allegiance as representatives of the Nigerian people should be first, to the people and the nation of Nigeria and therefore should take precedence over all other considerations.

“A focused, patriotic and objective legislature remains d key to any resourceful democracy and for our hard-fought democracy to be successful and to stand the test of time, a healthy synergy between the executive and the legislature cannot be substituted”, the group’s head, Debo Adeniran stressed.

“Although CACOL has overtime remained in the forefront in demanding on behalf of the Nigerian masses that a thorough screening job be done by the law-making body, to ensure that people of character and integrity be assigned ministerial responsibilities, this however should not be done on the altar of score-settling and blinded antagonism – all in the name of politics. They should remember that the common interest of Nigerians is Nigeria, Adeniran said..

The Senate has also responded positively to the clarion call by Nigerians for a thorough screening as it has said that the  screening of ministerial nominees, would be guided by relevant provisions of the Senate’s standing rules as well as relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended..

“In particular, the exercise would be guided by the provisions of Order 120 of the Senate Standing Rules 2015 and sections  147, 14(3), 65, and 5 of the Constitution of Nigeria. The senate would also insist that all the nominees, especially all former public office holders must provide their assets declaration certificates before they can scale through the screening”, the senate said. .

Chairman of the senate ad hoc committee on media and publicity, Senator Dino Melaye provided stated that these conditions and procedures were agreed upon by the senators during their executive (closed door) session Thursday , which lasted for about two hours.

He said the old practice of according special respect for some ministerial nominees by allowing them to’ bow and go’, has been modified.

According to him, henceforth, the only persons that would be accorded such special privileges would be former National Assembly members.

He stated that the privileges to be accorded to past lawmakers arise from the fact that as former members of the National Assembly, such persons have automatically satisfied the basic condition for being a minister as contain in section 147(5) of the constitution, which states that, “No person shall be appointed as a minister of the government of the federation unless he is qualified for election as a member of the House of Representative.”

Melaye further disclosed that a decision was taken that all former National Assembly members nominated as ministers would be made to face the screening of only the Senate President, who may wish to asked such candidates few questions before he is allowed to bow and go.

A new privilege that would be extended to past lawmakers who would be appearing before the senate for screening according to Melaye is that they would be given priority in terms of being invited first before their other colleague nominees for screening.

He also disclosed that in line with order 120 of the senate standing orders rule book, the senate would insist that all the candidates must tender their assets declaration certificates a s a pre condition for their confirmation.

Order 120 of the senate standing orders 2015 states that, “The senate shall not consider the nomination of any person who has held any public office as contained in part 11 of the fifth schedule of the constitution prior to his nomination unless there is written evidence that he has declared his assets and liabilities as required by section 11(1) of part 1 of the fifth schedule to the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.

Such declaration shall be required for scrutiny by the senators.” Melaye in addition disclosed that in the screening process, the senate shall not have course to import any ethnic, religious, cultural or indeed any forms of primordial considerations, but must apply the principles of federal character, fairness and equity to all.

He in addition stated that the ministerial nominations by the President must satisfy federal character principles. Melaye expressed optimism that before the completion of the screening of the first batch of the nominees, President Buhari would live by his honour and would forward the remaining names, which would then reflect the representatives of the remaining states.

He expressed hope that the resume and curricula vitae of the ministerial nominees would reach all the senators before tomorrow (Monday) to enable the lawmakers pose informed and incisive questions before the candidates during screening.

He reiterated that in line with the tradition and norms of the senate, if two senators from a state oppose the candidacy of any nominee from that state, such a nomination stands automatically disqualified.

The lawmaker also confirmed that the senate has continued to receive more petitions against some of the nominees, stressing that, “all of these would form part of the materials we would use to carry out the screening.”

This was also as the Senate President Bukola Saraki has urged the senate committee on petitions, ethics and privileges to ensure that the committee concludes work on all pending petitions about the ministerial nominees before the commencement of the screening exercise on Tuesday.

With flood of petitions against most of the nominees already in the senate , the screening and how the senate handle it will be a thing of interest to Nigerians