Senate President Bukola Saraki
The Senate will start receiving petitions against
President Muhammadu Buhari's ministerial
nominees on Tuesday.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics and
Public Petitions, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, told one
of our correspondents on Friday in Abuja that the
committee would give the petitions prompt attention
once they were presented.
He said as of Friday, no member of the public had
formally submitted any petition against any of the
ministerial nominees.
Buhari sent the list containing the names of the
ministerial nominees to the senate on Wednesday
for screening.
But Anyanwu noted that the committee might start
receiving petitions as from Tuesday when the list
would have been officially unveiled by the Senate
President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
He said, "We have not been receiving petitions from
members of the public obviously because the list of
ministerial nominees has not been officially unveiled
by the senate president.
"I think the petitions will start coming in as from
next Tuesday after Nigerians would have known the
nominees."
Meanwhile, investigations by Saturday PUNCH
revealed that some Peoples Democratic Party-
controlled states have been warming up to oppose
the clearance of any All Progressives Congress
member that would make the list from their states.
Apart from this, some aggrieved members of the
APC in some states were also said to have
threatened to write petitions against any nominee
that is not confirmed by the state chapter of the
party as a member.
It was gathered that the Rivers State Government
and the state chapter of the party had concluded
plans to oppose a former governor of the state,
Rotimi Amaechi, if he was nominated.
It was learnt that the state government might
instruct senators from the state to oppose
Amaechi's nomination.
But when contacted, the state government and the
PDP said they would prefer to keep mum on the
report that Amaechi's name was on the ministerial
list.
The Media Assistant to the State Governor, Mr.
Simeon Nwakaudu, said the state government
would take a position after the senate must have
read out the list on Tuesday.
Nwakaudu explained that everything about the
content of the ministerial list would be mere
speculation until it is read out by the National
Assembly.
"Let the list be read first; if the list comes out, we
will formerly take a position," he said.
Similarly, the State PDP Deputy Publicity Secretary,
Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, said the party would be
thorough in its position on whether Amaechi's name
appeared on the list or not, but would have to wait
until the Senate read out the list on Tuesday.
"When the Senate reads out the list, we will react.
We are always thorough when we take a position on
an issue. They said it is the Senate that will
disclose the content of the list and that will be on
Tuesday. We are waiting for them to do that,"
Nwanosike added.
Besides Amaechi, those who were reported to be on
the ministerial list included a former Lagos State
Governor, Babatunde Fashola; his Ekiti State
counterpart, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; a former Governor
of Anambra State, Chris Ngige; and a one-time
Governor of Abia State, Ogbonaya Onu and an ex-
former finance commissioner in Ogun State, Kunle
Adeosun.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former National
Legal Adviser to the defunct Congress for
Progressives Change, Malami Abubakar; a former
governorship candidate of the APC in Taraba State,
Aisha Alhassan; and a special adviser to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina
Mohammed, also made the ministerial list.
However, the founder, Engineer Sunday Adebayo
Babalola Foundation, Mr. Sunday Babalola, and the
Director of International Women Communication,
Hajia Goroso Limota, urged the senate to thoroughly
screen the nominees.
While Babalola spoke at Omu Aran, Kwara State on
Friday during the inauguration of N2m scholarship to
some students in secondary and tertiary
institutions from Omu-Aran, Limota spoke in an
interview with one of our correspondents in Ilorin,
the Kwara State capital, during the inauguration of
the sustainable development goals among
grassroots women.
Babalola cautioned against using religion, gender,
tribe and other sentiments, instead of competence
and merit, as yardstick for screening the nominees.
Limota urged the senate to reject the list if it did not
contain at least 35 per cent of women.
