The Senate resumes screening of the remaining 18 ministerial nominees today, strong indications emerged yesterday that former Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi and Aisha Abubakar, who have petitions against them, will be screened today.
This is sequel to positive reports the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions is set to present before the Senate this morning on petitions written against them by their petitioners from Rivers and Sokoto states respectively.
While the committee is setting aside the petitions written against Amaechi by Port Harcourt-based Integrity Group, in its report on the grounds that issues raised therein are already in the court of law, it is throwing out outrightly the one written against Aisha Abubakar by concerned Sokoto women on the grounds of being routed through wrong channels.
Aisha, who faced the Senate committee yesterday on the petition written against her by Sokoto women, got a clean bill of health from all the committee members who said the petition should not be treated for only being copied to the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, and not directly addressed to him.
First to raise the issue was Senator Obinna Ogba Joshua (PDP Ebonyi Central) who pointed out that the petition was addressed directly to President Muhammadu Buhari and not the Senate president which according to him, contravenes rule 41(5a) of the Senate standing order.
Other members of the committee like Senators Dino Melaye (APC Kogi West), Jerry Useni (PDP Plateau South), Binta Garba Mashi (APC Adamawa North) and Wale Omogunwa (PDP Ondo South), concurred with Obinna’s submission by urging the committee chairman to disregard the petition in its entirety for being wrongly addressed.
Senator Melaye in particular said since the petition was directly addressed to President Buhari and not the Senate president, the committee should consider it as dead on arrival. He added that another procedural defect in the petition was the rules of letter writing that the petitioners did not follow.
He said a petition is supposed to be signed by petitioners before copying other interested parties and not copying before signing, adding that “going by all these identified blunders, the petition is more or less, a wishy-washy one which should not be treated in any way by the committee but rather dumped in the trash can”.
But the chairman of the committee, Sam Anyanwu (PDP Imo East), before giving Aisha Abubakar a clean bill of health, asked her two questions on fundamental issues raised against her in the petition. He asked whether she is an indigene of Sokoto State or not, to which she answered ‘yes’, saying she is a native of Dogondaji town in Tambuwal local government. On whether she belongs to any political party, she said no, being a serving public officer.
Briefing journalists later on the two reports, the committee chairman said they were very straightforward and their reports are ready for submission on the floor of the Senate today. “Our reports on petitions against Amaechi and Aisha Abubakar are ready and will be laid before the Senate tomorrow (today), to pave way for their screening”, he said.
Of the 36 ministerial nominees, the senate screened and confirmed 18 last week with the expressed commitment to screen the remaining 18 this week. The senate will screen 9 nominees including Rotimi Amaechi and Aisha Abubakar today and the rest tomorrow.
