•Nominees besiege N’Assembly, lobby senators
AS Nigerians look forward to the screening and confirmation of ministerial nominees billed to begin next Tuesday, the Senate has said it would not compromise or bend its rules to favour anyone.
Addressing a press conference after its plenary, Senate adhoc committee chairman on media and public affairs, Sena- tor Dino Melaye, said for any of the nominees to scale screening, he or she must secure the support of two out of three Senators from state.
Although Melaye did not state in clear terms whether or not the nominees will be dis- qualified if they are unable to secure support from two Sena- tors, there are indications that some of them who are from states controlled by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may face setbacks.
Meanwhile, some of the nominees have been holding closed-door meetings with the Senate leadership led by the Senate president, Olubukola Saraki.
An official in the office of the Senate president told Daily Sun that since the names of the nominees were unveiled last Tuesday, no fewer than 15 of them have visited the Red Chamber and have met with various caucuses of the Senate.
They were led by the Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on National Assembly (Senate) Matters, Senator Ita Enang.
Former governor of Abia State, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Audu Ogbeh, former governor of Anambra state, Dr. Chris Ngige, former PDP Senator, Udo Udoma, were among those sighted at the National Assembly complex.“The visit is not unexpected. Their screening begins next week and as expected, they will be coming around so that nothing takes them by surprise. We have had about 15 of the nominees here since their names were released. Many more will come before the end of legislative business today (yester- day),” the official said.
It could not be ascertained which of the various state or geopolitical caucuses the nominees met with.
Speaking on the hurdles which the nominees have to scale to secure confirmation, Melaye said: “We considered a number of issues that had to do with the approach, the procedure for the screening of the ministerial nominees. So, we developed two modalities. The first criteria is using constitutional provisions as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as a fundamental procedure for the screening of ministerial nominees. And we will be considering Sec- tion 147(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; and Section 147 is very clear. 147(1) says that: there shall be such offices of the ministers of the government of the federation as may be established by the President; (2) says: Any appointment to the office of the minister of the government of the federation shall be the nomination of any person to such office is con- firmed by the Senate be made by the President; (3) Any appointment under (2) of this Section by the President shall be in conformity with the pro- visions of Section 14(3) of the Constitution, provided that in giving effects to the provisions as aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one minister from each state who shall be an indigene of such state.
“We are saying that in the screening of the ministerial nominees, this Section shall be strictly adhered to by the Nigerian Senate, meaning that there would be ministers from each state of the federation in compliance with the provisions of Section 147. Then, Section 14(3) is going to be another fundamental instrument in the screening of the ministers by the grace of God to be as from Tuesday.”
Continuing, he explained: “We are also going to consider Section 65 of the 1999 Constitution. Section 65 of the Con- stitution is clear, and it says: Subject to the provisions of the Section 66 of this Constitution, a person shall be qualified for election as member of the… because what the Constitution is saying is that anyone, who must be a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must first qualify to be a member of the House of Representatives, meaning (that) all conditions and conditionalities that em- power you to run for the office of member of the House of Representatives must be fulfilled before you can become a minister of the Federal Re- public.
“The Senate will make sure that this constitutional provision is strictly adhered to, and that you would find in Section 14(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. You know that the minimum age to contest for the House of Representatives is 30. You know that the minimum qualification is O’ Level equivalent and a host of other conditions that will necessitate the membership of the House of Representatives.
“So, what we are saying is that for anybody to be cleared as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, you must first, by qualification, be eligible to the office of the member of the House of Representatives.
“If you also look at Section 5 of the Constitution, it would also be another instrument we would be considering in the screening of ministers. Section
5 of the Constitution is very clear, and it stipulated clearly the provisions and conditionalities therein. So, it will be one of the basic instruments we will use in the screening of ministers.”
Melaye said further: “Again, also in Section 120 of the Standing Rules of the Senate will be another major instrument in the consideration and screening of ministerial nominees. Section 120 of the Standing Rules of the Senate reads as follows: That the Senate shall not consider the nomination of any person, who has held any public office as contained in Part 2 of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution prior to his nomination unless there is a written evidence that he has declared his assets and liabilities as required by Section 11(1) of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; such dec- laration shall be required for scrutiny by the senators.
“What this Section is saying is that every ministerial nominee must produce, actually proof of compliance as required by the Constitution and the Rules of the Senate, you must declare your assets, and you must have a certificate of proof that you have declared your assets, and that you are given a certificate of proof by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). So, this is another condition that we are going to be exercising during the screening exercise.”
On securing support from two Senators from the state of origin, Melaye said: “We also, in line with our convenion, agreed that for you to be cleared as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, minimum of two senators from your state must, at least, show support for your nomination. It’s a convention by the Senate, and we have decided to uphold that convention in the sanctity of the integrity of the Senate.”
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