ABUJA—Strong indications have emerged that today’s
plenary session, where the Senate would unveil the
ministerial list sent by President Muhammadu Buhari,
may be stormy as senators are saying the President
must, in line with the constitution, submit himself before
the Senate for screening if he appointed himself Minister
of Petroleum.
They are also set to reject an incomplete list, saying the
constitution provides for a nominee from each state of
the federation and that any list that did not cover the 36
states would suffer serious opposition on the floor of the
Senate.
The senators have also vowed that they would not be
cowed by the trial of Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki,
at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, just as they
promised to adopt stringent measures in line with the
provisions of the Constitution during the screening of
ministerial nominees.
They added that the tradition of take-a-bow for senators
coming for screening as ministers would be jettisoned,
adding that they were prepared to send names of
nominees to the sender of such a list.
Senate President, Dr. Saraki, is currently facing trial at
CCT, following a 13-count charge levelled against him by
the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, bordering on alleged
corruption and false declaration of assets in 2003 and
summoned him to appear before it, which he did.
‘We’ll stick to rules’
Speaking with journalists yesterday in Abuja, Senator
Mao Ohuabunwa, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Abia
North, who noted that the list was expected to be
complete, in line with the Constitution, said: “The list will
be unveiled tomorrow( today). The Senate President kept
to his words that the envelope will remain sealed until
tomorrow (today).
“We know that all we have been reading could be
speculations until it is opened. It will be read on the floor
of the Senate and we will know. Even the 21 that people
are speculating will be ascertained tomorrow (today) on
the floor.
“The Constitution does not support ministers by batches.
Every state must be represented but if the number is not
complete, some of us may raise constitutional issues. If
we have to wait for another three months for him to send
another list comprising representatives of other states, it
means those states would be non-functional.
“We will be guided by the constitution and the rules of the
senate. This time around, we resolved that we are going
to be quite stringent. We are going to ensure that
whoever is coming as the minister of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria must be somebody worth the salt;
somebody we can rely upon and somebody that would
have met the constitutional requirements.
‘We’ll stick to the rules’
“We are not considering waving any rule. Why should we
wave the rule? If we want to do that, it should be before
the screening. I believe that at the end of the day
Nigerians will be happy because some Nigerians are
already saying that the names being speculated were not
what they have been waiting for these five months.
“This government has tagged itself as the government of
change. If that is the cardinal thing, it will be against this
Senate and, indeed, against the President and Nigerians
for us to see a very strong allegation that hinges on
corruption and we ignore it. If we see a strong petition,
definitely we will look into it and follow it to a logical
conclusion.
“If it requires writing to the anti-graft agencies like ICPC
or EFCC to give us a report on such a person, we will do
that because that is what screening is all about.
Screening is not a tea party. In Cross River State the
appointees are going to write aptitude test.”
Days of take-a-bow over
On the President’s decision to appoint himself as
Minister of Petroleum, he said: “I do not think the
President’s name will be on the list and I also do not
think that the President will say he is a minister because
if you are a minister, one of the conditions is that you
must be subjected to screening and approval of the
Senate.
“He, as the chief minister, can be there to supervise any
ministry, but he cannot be a minister. Whoever is
advising him to be minister is not advising him rightly.”
Chairman, Senate ad hoc Committee on Publicity,
Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West): “In our screening
of ministers, it will not be business as usual. The era of
take a bow and go are over. The right people will be
made ministers without any political or religious
consideration.”
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