Ministerial Screening: Senate Keeps Amaechi Waiting

 

Vanguard reports that the ministerial screening of Rotimi Amaechi has put senators belonging to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a tight corner.

Unless the Senate confirms or formally rejects him by Thursday, October 29, Amaechi would automatically be sworn in as a minister upon the expiration of the 21-day constitutional deadline allowed the Senate to confirm or reject a ministerial nominee.
Section 147 (6) of the constitution setting the deadline on confirmation of ministerial nominees states thus: “An appointment to any of the offices aforesaid shall be deemed to have been made where no return has been received from the Senate within 21 working days of the receipt of nomination by the Senate.”
The Senate will not be sitting today as senators decided to stand down plenary to enable them accompany Senate President Bukola Saraki to the Code of Conduct Tribunal for his trial which continues today.
APC senators reportedly axed today’s plenary to avert the fear of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy president of the Senate, presiding and giving the PDP an advantage in the confirmation process.

However, it was gathered that PDP senators after a caucus meeting yesterday vowed to stop Amaechi’s confirmation.
It still unclear whether Saraki would appear before the tribunal today in view of one of his lawyer’s reaction to Monday’s inability of the Court of Appeal to deliver its judgment on Saraki’s main appeal, in which he is challenging the validity of the charges made against him at the tribunal, The Punch reports.
                                        
Saraki’s trial at the CCT which began last month had been adjourned to October 21. Saraki is facing a 13-count charge of corruption made against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau. He first appeared before the tribunal on September 22. The Justice Danladi Umar-led tribunal, after Saraki was arraigned, had fixed October 21 for the commencement of trial.
On Tuesday, the Senate president filed a fresh application for stay of the proceedings of the CCT due to Monday’s failure of the Court of Appeal to deliver judgment on his earlier appeal.
Saraki is challenging the trial on the grounds that the CCT, not being a court, could not exercise judicial powers and that the charges filed at the time an attorney general of the federation had not been appointed were incompetent.
The Senate once again failed to screen Amaechi, the former governor of Rivers state, yesterday, The Guardian reports.
The Senate deferred his screening last week due to the inability of the committee on ethics and privileges to conclude investigations into petitions brought against Amaechi by senators from his state.
                                         
Though the committee was said to have concluded the investigations and promised to present its report, nothing was heard about it yesterday.
It appears there are behind-the-scenes maneuvers surrounding Amaechi’s screening as two different Order Papers were produced for plenary yesterday.
The first Order Paper had the names of eight ministerial nominees including Amaechi, but it was withdrawn, only to be replaced with another one which had only three names for screening.
Consequently, only two people were screened, Adebayo Shittu, a three-term member of the House of Representatives, and Khadijah Abba Ibrahim, the wife of a former governor of Yobe state, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim.

In other news, a special intelligence response team set up by the inspector general of police, Solomon Arase, foiled a plot by some suspected terrorists to plant an improvised explosive device (IED) at the popular Wuse Market in Abuja, Daily Sun reports.
It was reported that the terrorists were planning to carry out their attack in various parts of the Federal Capital Territory.
                                          
The team arrested five suspected terrorists who will be charged to court in the next few days. They were apprehended at their hideouts at Karamajiji village behind the national military cemetery along Abuja Airport road and Iddo village located directly behind the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Two others were picked up from a hideout at Dan-Asato village, in Suleja, while another was picked up at Gauraka village, also in Suleja, a satellite town in Niger state, near Abuja.
A top security officer said they recovered various kinds of chemicals used for making IEDs numbering over 30, plastic containers, 15 bombs in the four locations mentioned, a registered motor vehicle licence, 20 detonators, one laptop, two books on bomb-making and various kinds of weapons.
The Nation reports that the Nigerian army is probing the Ekiti and Osun states’ governorship elections to determine whether its men acted unprofessionally.

                                        
This comes over one year after the polls were held in both states.
The army is also looking into the alleged malpractice of its men in some states during the last general elections.
According to the army spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, these measures were being taken to avert a recurrence.
He said a board of inquiry had been set up to probe allegations of misconduct against its personnel.