BREAKING! We'll Screen Amaechi And Heaven Won't Fall - Senate

Weeks after he was tipped as a minister by President Muhammadu Buhari, former
Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s nomination is still generating ripples at the
Senate.
He is billed for screening tomorrow – six days after 18 of the 21 ministerial
nominees on Buhari’s first list were cleared.
Senators, it was gathered yesterday, are set for an epic battle over his screening.

Amaechi and Adebayo Shittu, a former member of Oyo State House of Assembly in
the Second Republic, are the ones remaining on the list to be cleared.
The president has since replaced the 21st person on the list and the immediate
past deputy governor of Niger State, Musa Ibeto.
Some of the minority Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators are spoiling for war
– initiated from outside the Senate – vowing to stop Amaechi’s screening, but their
All Progressives Congress (APC) counterparts are set to ensure his clearance.
“We are allowing the minority to have their say. We will have our way,” Senate Leader
Ali Ndume, (APC, Borno North), said last night.
He said: “This issue of Amaechi is generating unnecessary tension. I think being a
two-term governor and a former Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, he
is qualified to be a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The report of the Senate Committee is ready and we will go ahead with the
screening of the nominee. Our responsibility lies in ensuring that Amaechi has met
the requirements of the constitution.
“We have to confirm if he is truly from Rivers State, his agenda for the nation and if
he has the capacity to serve this country.”
Ndume added: “There is no provision in the 1999 Constitution or the Senate
Standing Orders that says you must disqualify a nominee because of a petition.
“If anyone has issues or allegations against Amaechi, let the person go to court to
prove these. Under normal circumstance, Amaechi ought to take a bow in view of
his past records.
“But we will want to hear from him what he has in stock for the nation which he
wants to serve.
“ We will consider the report of the committee on Tuesday or any time in the week.
But this noise from PDP cannot stop Amaechi’s confirmation.
“We have 58 APC Senators (excluding the President of the Senate who has no vote
unless there is a tie) and we are all united behind Amaechi. The PDP has 48
Senators. Assuming that all the PDP Senators are against Amaechi, the majority will
still have its way.
“Section 5 of the constitution is very clear on the powers of the President. President
Muhammadu Buhari has exercised his powers by appointing his nominees. Those
aggrieved should go to court.”
It was learnt that members of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public
Petitions have sorted out their differences and finalised the report on the petition
against Amaechi.
A member of the committee said: “We have completed our assignment and we will
present our report to the Senate on Tuesday.
“I will not tell you our recommendation but we have been fair to the petitioner and
the defendant based on issues and precedents.
“This petition gave us a tough time because a lot of legal intricacies are involved.
Nigerians are becoming more interested in who leads them.”
Ahead of Amaechi’s screening, there has been a division in the rank of PDP
senators.
Some of them were said to have told their colleagues that they may not support the
position of the party to “halt the screening and confirmation of Amaechi.”
It was gathered that the PDP senators backing Amaechi based their decision on
personal grounds.
One of them said: “I think on a personal note, he is qualified for the job. He has the
capacity to deliver on any assignment given to him.
“Some of us also do not believe in politics of tit-for-tat. Amaechi worked against our
victory but politics is fluid, he might be with us tomorrow.”
Another PDP senator said: “I think the interest of the nation should be paramount.
This screening of Amaechi is assuming a personal dimension. We should be
concerned more about his ability for the job than anything else.
“As for the allegations of graft, the court will always be there to prove Amaechi
guilty or otherwise. Stopping him will amount to arrogating the powers of the court
to the Senate.
“My position is that a minister does not have immunity. So, he can still be
prosecuted while in office.
“I think Governor Ayo Fayose set a template for our caucus in the Senate by
directing the three senators from Ekiti to support ex-Governor Kayode Fayemi’s
nomination.”
Also yesterday, two groups defended the nomination of Hajiya Aisha Abubakar as
the first female ministerial nominee from Sokoto State.
They urged the Senate to ignore the petition from some politicians in the state.
A group, “The Concerned Sokoto People”, said it was uncharitable to embark on
such an act against a morally upright woman.
It said: “We will sadly add that it is a grave disservice to Nigerians, to President
Buhari, to the APC and to Sokoto people, that it is only from Sokoto State, that an
APC chieftain, a defacto leader will sponsor, in whatever guise, a frivolous petition
challenging the carefully selected nomination of a minister from his own state by his
own President.
“President Buhari has made it clear that he and he alone will be responsible for who
serves in his government. All APC leaders across the country have accepted this
position and have supported the president to succeed so that this country, can
move forward.
The group described the nominee as a role model of gender equality in the
predominantly conservative northern state of Sokoto.
It added: “She is not only an international banker and top manager of human and
material resources, she has dedicated herself as an employee in national and
regional institutions to the promotion of developmental issues that target the low
and middle income earners in Nigeria and Africa”.
Another group, “Concerned Stakeholders for Good Governance”, dismissed issues
raised against Hajiya Abubakar, saying the allegations were not tenable.
The forum described as worrisome, the move by interest groups discriminating
against President Buhari’s choice of a ministerial nominee based on gender.
The forum said: “Having served in various organisations in the public service with
over 20 years’ experience in banking and investment, rural enterprise development
and micro-credit administration, international development, policy analysis and
business support, she is adequately qualified.
“There is no legal requirement under any Nigerian law that a person must be a
member of a political party before they can be appointed Ministers of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria or to any other executive position and it is in this regard that the
appointment of Abubakar has in no way contravened any legal provision as far as
party membership is concerned.
“Aisha is a daughter of ex-super Permanent Secretary and Finance Minister Alhaji
Abubakar Alhaji and current Sardauna of Sokoto and heir to the sultanate throne
which makes her a seventh generation descendant of Sheikh Usman Danfodio, the
18th century founder of the Sokoto Caliphate.
“Also from the maternal side, she is a granddaughter of his Eminence, Sultan Ibrahim
Dasuki, the 18th Sultan of Sokoto.”