Ministerial screening: The intrigues, the politics

Tribune Online
Ministerial screening: The intrigues, the politics

The list of ministerial nominees unveiled on July 4 by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, continued to elicit reactions in the polity.  In the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), discontent is rife in the camps of those who lost out in the game of who gets what, when and how. The aggrieved are licking their wounds and poised for a showdown ahead 2023. TAIWO AMODU examines the intrigues, backstab and the politics of screening process. 

Two months after President Muhammadu Buhari’s formal inauguration, the list of his ministerial nominees finally surfaced on the floor of the Senate. Last Tuesday, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, read the names of the 43 nominees to his colleagues which instantly courted mixed feelings, within the precinct of the Red Chamber and across the country.

For the senators, the needless delay in the unveiling of the list was almost culminating in a test of will between the parliament and the presidency as the spokesperson of the Senate, Adedayo Adeyeye had threatened that the lawmakers would not abort their annual recess for the screening of nominees if President Muhammadu Buhari failed to turn in the list of nominees on time.

Lawmakers in both chambers of the National Assembly were expected to proceed on their annual recess on Thursday, July 26. Senator Adeyeye, at a media session, penultimate week, had advised the presidency to be mindful of the timetable of the Senate.

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He said: “Let me tell you one thing: the executive are aware and most Nigerians are aware of the timetable of the Senate. There is a particular time of the year, when the Senate will go on a recess. That being in mind, they should be mindful of when to carry out this constitutional responsibility because the Senate itself has its own timetable. Like the judiciary is right now on recess, a lot of judges have travelled out except those handling election matters. So in the same way, there will be a time, very soon, when the Senate will go on recess. I think the executive are mindful of this to know the timetable of the Senate and it is left to them to adjust to that timetable or not. When the matter comes before us, we will look at it and carry out our constitutional responsibility.”

The recant

Findings revealed that before commencement of open plenary, the President of the Senate took time to pacify his agitated colleagues who viewed the appearance of the list, few days to their annual vacation, as a portentous sign of insolence from the executive arm of government.  A senator who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune in confidence revealed that some of them who had booked their international flights to travel outside the country during the week openly expressed their disaffection that the Senate was conceding too much ground to a complacent presidency.

Shortly after Tuesday plenary, Senator Adeyeye revealed to newsmen that the Senate had agreed to postpone its annual recess by a week.

He said the lawmakers  who agreed to make the sacrifice in the larger interest of the nation, would conduct the screening process throughout the work days unlike its practice of suspension of plenary on Friday and Monday.

He said: “The Senate is very serious about going ahead with the screening and nomination without delay. We have postponed our recess till the end of next week. We have suspended a lot of our rules: we don’t hold plenary on Friday and Monday. We want to hold plenary every day; we want to make a lot of sacrifices. We shall sit till very late to conclude the confirmation. we are ready to work at unusual hours, we want to do a thorough confirmation. We promised to work for Nigeria; we are going to work at unusual hours because we want the process to be thorough.”

Adeyeye, who is the Chairman, Senate adhoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs, dismissed insinuation that the nominees would enjoy automatic confirmation as he claimed that senators were determined to reject any nominee whose performance falls short of expectations of Nigerians during the screening process. ”We shall reject nominees who in our opinion has performed below expectations; we reserve the right to reject such nominee. It isn’t just a ritual, it is a serious Senate. If it wasn’t going to be serious, we can pass everybody in one day but the Constitution doesn’t allow us to do that,” he said.

2023: The backstab

The list has since elicited varied reactions within the ruling party. Despite its claim of being a united political family, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is an amorphous platform with members formed into various camps. The party leaders whose nominees made the list have been praising President Buhari to high heavens; those who lost out are licking their wounds, complaining in hushed tones about how the party does not reward loyalty. The daring ones have taken to the media space in protest. In Oyo State, the big names touted by bookmakers as  nominee(s) lost out. Sunday Akin Dare, Executive Commissioner at the National Communications Commission (NCC) and confidant of a national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, emerged as the state nominee. With APC in opposition in the state, Mr Dare may automatically take the position of party leader in the pacesetter state.  What becomes of the likes of the immediate past governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, the APC governorship candidate in the last general elections, Adebayo Adelabu, former governor Adebayo Alao Akala (incidentally from Ogbomosho as Dare)? Ahead 2023, a group, Oyo All Progressives Congress Reformers, while lauding the nomination of Sunday Dare called for the dissolution of the state chapter of APC.

In a statement by Honourable Lawrence Adewale and Dipo Fawole, chairman and publicity secretary, respectively, they applauded President Buhari and Senator Tinubu for not giving the slot to former Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

In Ondo State, a group,  Ondo APC Solidarity, rejected the nomination of Senator Tayo Alasoadura. National coordinator and secretary of the group, Gbenga Bojuwomi and Alhaji Ibrahim Sikiru, stormed the APC national secretariat with a petition, less than 24 hours after the list of nominees was made public. They alleged that Senator Alasoadura, a loyalist of the Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, worked for the Action Alliance (AA) in the last general election and should not have been nominated. They further claimed that the nominee who served as senator in the eighth National Assembly worked with the erstwhile Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, to frustrate the policies of President Buhari.

“As Nigeria, most especially the people of Ondo State look forward to the ministerial nominee who can turn things around in the country and Ondo State, it is extremely sad that the fulfillment of our expectations is abolished by nominating Senator Tayo Alasoadura as a nominee from Ondo State.

“It is quite clear that President Buhari who is supposed to be our role model, does not follow his word to a logical end. Mr President had few days ago categorically issued a statement that he would only use those whom he knows and that are loyal party members this time around as ministers. Is it not evidently clear now that the choice of Alasoadura, someone who connived with Saraki in the eighth Senate to pervert the policies of this government, and also who worked closely with Governor Akeredolu to foist the Action Alliance (AA) in Ondo State that eventually jeopardised the victory of Mr President himself, will endanger the party and constitute continuous misdirection in Nigeria at large?”

Expatiating why it was against the Ondo nominee, the forum revealed that Senator Alasoadura as serving minister would strengthen the AA in the South-West ahead of the 2023 general election. “The action of President Buhari to nominate Senator Alasoadura from Ondo State is a deliberate attempt to flourish their new party, the AA, and also to make our party, the APC redundant in the state with the connivance of Governor Fayemi whose 2023 presidential ambition is not hidden. However, Governor KayodeFayemi of Ekiti State is warned not to interfere with Ondo politics henceforth.

In Edo State, the governor, Godwin Obaseki, is believed to have been left stranded as the two nominees from the state were picked by his estranged godfather and national chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole.

Politics arrest development

As at Thursday, 24 nominees had been cleared by the Senate.

With the exception of the likes of Hajia Ramatu Tijani and Sunday Dare, most of the nominees were spared the rigour of the question and answer sessions as they enjoyed the privilege of automatic confirmation, reserved for federal lawmakers. Senators who felt peeved that the process was being reduced to a mere “bow and go” session were overruled by the President of the Senate or booed by their colleagues. On Wednesday, Senator Lawan prevailed on lawmakers that the privilege accorded federal lawmakers be  extended to the immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi who incidentally served as   Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly for eight years before becoming the governor of the oil-rich state for the same number of years. Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya  Abaribe had informed the President of the Senate that   senators from Rivers State were anxious to ask Rotimi Amaechi salient questions.

Former Gombe State governor, Danjuma Goje, equally expressed concern that the privilege was being abused. Goje cited Order 3 of the Senate Standing Rules, which he noted reserved the privilege of automatic confirmation for senators and members of the House of Representatives.

The President of the Senate insisted that the privilege be extended to the former Minister of Transportation.

”We have agreed on a policy on how we go about the screening, I just want to reiterate that policy and to say that we will extend the privilege to members of the legislature, even at state level. We should let him (Amaechi) be beneficiary; we aren’t doing it for him. We agreed that any nominee who passed through legislative house will be allowed to benefit.”

On Thursday before commencement of screening of nominees, Senator Lawan followed up with an appeal to his colleagues to fast track the process by extending the privilege of automatic confirmation to those without legislative experience in the Senate and House of Representatives.

Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central) had called the attention of the Senate to media reports which he claimed was a misrepresentation of the screening and confirmation proceedings of ministerial nominees, particularly Rotimi Amaechi, on Wednesday.

Citing Order 15  of Matter of Privilege and 43, Matter of Personal Explanation of the Senate Rules, Senator Bamidele said the national dailies reported that majority of the nominees were not grilled but asked “to take a bow and go.”

He further insisted that the process of ministerial screening was misconstrued as confirmation by the general public.

He said: “The media has been awash since yesterday (Wednesday) over an explanation on which the general public deserves and needs simple explanation. It has to do with our tradition, asking former legislators to take a bow and go. Mr President, why it is important is that members of the public need to be told as the need to understand that former legislators who served in the National Assembly are subjected to the same level of screening. What we have done here was to screen. Nobody has been confirmed.

“It is important we explain to members of the public that the only reason they are asked to take a bow and go is because we could have been asking them to clarify certain things that we already know. The Constitution of Nigeria is very clear as to qualification to appointment as a minister. You must be qualified to serve as a member of the House of Representatives.

“All of us are aware of the qualifications.  If people have been through this and they have had the opportunity to serve in the House of Assembly, it is taken for granted.

“However, that does not prevent the Senate from still scrutinising the document that they have submitted like all other nominees. I just felt members of the public should be made aware as we commence the exercise of the day. “

The President of the Senate who said the Senate was determined to sustain its convention of automatic confirmation for lawmakers, however said such nominee could still be disqualified. ”If there is anything that disqualifies a nominee, the fact that the nominee passed through the National Assembly chambers does not protect that nominee from being disqualified. So far this tradition of the Senate is maintained. I sustain your point of order.”

Senator  Bashiru Ajibola  reinforced the position of the Senate President in his point of order. According to him, ”To say that it was not extended to the state House of Assembly with respect, it is not a proper interpretation of Order 3 Rule 2.”

The President of the Senate however, justified the extension of same privilege to female ministerial nominees. He said: “When we say female nominees should take a bow and go,  we are according them that privilege because they have demonstrated intellect. We are also equally gender sensitive because we know this country can’t develop without the contributions of our women.”

As the screening resumed on Monday, the senator representing Kogi West, Dino  Melaye described the process as more of adoption than  screening. Nigerians have expressed reservation over privilege accorded most of the nominees which excluded them from rigorous questions and answer session in the name of “bow and go.” Speaking on Sunday night on a Channels TV programme, Politics Today, Senator  Melaye admitted that the ongoing process fell short of the expectations of Nigerians. He however evaded response to criticisms trailing the ninth assembly which has been tagged derisively as rubber stamp of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led presidency.

He said: ”The process has been more of adoption than screening, but we are talking to ourselves. I am not a principal officer; I don’t know whether it is rubber stamp. But I want to assure you that as long as some of us are  there, we shall do our best.”

He further argued that the process of screening would have been more tidier if the Presidency had attached portfolios to  the list of nominees sent to Senate. He noted that attaching portfolio to each of the nominees would have given ample opportunity to leadership of the Senate to delegate the responsibility of the screening process to committees. “I am of the strong opinion that we should screen the ministers in committees so that it doesn’t disturb plenary. But if they  had attached the nominees to portfolios,  the committees can do proper screening and there will be enough time to ask questions. This approach of coming to plenary, where four people ask questions  and we are doing “bow and go”  isn’t fruitful,” he said.

Ministerial screening: The intrigues, the politics
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