Buhari Submits Another Batch Of Ministerial List To Senate

The Nigerian Senate has made public the criteria for screening Ministerial nominees.

President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki who disclosed this in a tweet, confirmed receipt of the list, said to contain 15 names of ministerial designates.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday submitted the list of the second batch of ministerial nominees to the Senate. PREMIUM TIMES, however, could not independently verify that claim.

It would be recalled that the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, as amended, stipulates that the president appoints at least one minister from each of the 36 states of the federation. Could it be that they had prepared more for an unfavourable outcome and planned elaborately on how to make government ungovernable, but instead met a peaceful response from former President Goodluck Jonathan and thus have to replan?

“As we have said the screening will be different this time around because we will follow the Constitutional provisions”. According to him, if any question would be asked them at all, it would come from the chairman of the “Committee of The Whole House”, who incidentally is the Senate President. However, we know that any such surveillance is not from state security organs.

Last week, the Nigerian senate leader urged his colleagues to be united in treating the list of nominees with dispatch.

Buhari definitely knows his game plan by delaying the appointments of the ministers till September 30, 2015.

My Agony is that even with such required separation of powers and checks and balances, there are very visible signs that the same executive wants to set rules and define criteria for the screening of its own ministerial nominees. He was appointed Federal Minister of Communications, and later became Minister of Steel Development. Thus all the nominees who had held public office, for instance the two term former governors, who are supposed to have declared their asset “immediately after taking office” and thereafter “at the end of every four years”, as provided by section 11(1), may have multiple asset declaration certificate, or “written declarations” to tender to the senate.

The nominees, whose screening would commence today are Abubakar Malami (SAN) (Kebbi); Abdurahman Bello Dambazzau (Kano); Aisha Jumai Al Hassan (Taraba); Alhaji Lai Mohammed (Kwara); Babatunde Raji Fashola (Lagos); Adebayo Shittu (Oyo); Solomon Dalong (Plateau); Senator Chris Ngige (Anambra); Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); and Chief Audu Ogbeh (Benue).