Uproar, drama as Senate screens Minister-designates
…Nominee claimed 1890 date of birth
…Taraba youths storm NASS in protest
…Wike rated high his performance as Governor, says party membership immaterial
… 8 of 14 nominees enjoyed ‘bow and go’ privilege
By Tunde Opalana, Haruna Salami
There was an uproar yesterday in the Senate over the screening of two Ministerial nominees, as the legislative chamber began scrutinizing the 28 nominees on the list forwarded to it last Thursday by President Bola Tinubu.
Fourteen of the 28 Minister-designates were screened yesterday.
Just a few of the nominees actually went through grilling while eight enjoyed parliamentary privilege of ‘bow and go’ without answering questions.
However, screening of two of the nominees generated uproar. They are Senator Abubakar Sani Danladi, representing Taraba State, and Engr. (Professor) Joseph Utsev from Benue State.
Sen. Danladi, who could have enjoyed the ‘bow and go’ privilege, was drilled over a petition against him that there is a subsisting court order barring him for 10 years from running for any political office.
He was asked to clear the air on an allegation that the Supreme Court gave a judgment banning him from holding political office in the country for 10 years over forgery.
Defending himself, Danladi said “there was no such pronouncement.”
He said: “Senator Shaibu Lau took the matter to the Federal High Court, Abuja and the court gave me judgment. He went to Appeal Court and the Appeal Court affirmed the judgment of the Federal High Court. He took the matter to the Supreme Court, then the Supreme Court gave me judgment.
”So, there is no judgment from the Supreme Court barring me for 10 years. The Supreme Court are hearing me as I’m speaking and lawyers are here: There was nothing in Appeal Court; they just struck out the case for lack of merit.
”At the Supreme Court, the same thing happened as Justice Odili said that the Federal High Court Jalingo was wrong to have passed the judgment in that manner.”
Danladi further explained that when he was a deputy governor in 2007, ”they used executive power” at that time to nullify him, though he did not who the ‘they’ were.
“So, from Supreme Court I had to go back to the Federal High Court Jalingo since the Supreme Court said there was no basis for the Federal High Court Jalingo to do that judgment. Then the same jurisdiction of the Federal High Court Jalingo are now sat on the same judgment and set aside that judgment that is hanging on me,” he stated.
Then the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio said: “The Federal High Court Jalingo gave a judgment against you that you were not qualified to contest on the basis of perjury that you lied on oath in respect of your date of birth, then later the Federal High Court sat on the same matter and cleared you?
“What we are saying is that the moment the Federal High Court gave the first judgment, they become fontus officio in Law and can no longer sit as appellate court over its own judgment. So you will definitely say what you want to say; we will study this because it is in the interest of Nigeria and it is of public interest.”
However, before commencement of plenary, the youth from Taraba stormed the National Assembly to protest Senator Danladi’s nomination as Minister.
The aggrieved protesters under the umbrella of Taraba Youth Mandate asked the Senate not to go ahead with Danladi’s screening for obvious reasons.
Spokesman of the group, Kelvin Kefas, alleged that Danladi was convicted for certificate forgery and banned from holding public office for 10 years.
Speaking further, Kefas questioned the rationale behind Danladi’s nomination, noting that the alleged 10-year period had not elapsed.
Kefas said the Taraba Youth Mandate
wanted the Senate to reject his nomination and appealed to the President to nominate another person from Taraba State.
Creating another scenario was a nominee whose age was doubted for starting primary school at the age of three.
Professor Utsev generated controversy when his curriculum vitae (CV) indicated he started primary school at the age of three.
Senator Mikhail Abiru (APC, Lagos) had drawn the attention of his colleagues to the CV where it was stated that Utsev was born in 1890, started Primary School in 1984 and completed his primary education in 1989.
Utsev said he graduated as the best student from the University of Agriculture, Makurdi in the Department of Civil Engineering.
He proceeded to the same university in 2009 and graduated with Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Water Engineering.
He said he is also the pioneer rector of the Benue State Polytechnic, Wanune, a position he assumed in 2020.
“The polytechnic is a new institution; as I speak now we have started session and that is where I am presently,” he said.
Senator Abiru asked the nominee to clarify the dates on his educational qualifications, saying there seemed to be confusion in his academic records.
Responding, the Benue nominee maintained that he was born in 1980 and graduated with first leaving school Certificate in 1989.
Senator Abba Moro (PDP, Benue) stepped in and appealed to his colleagues to ignore the discrepancy pertaining to dates in his educational qualifications, claiming it may have been a result of typographical error.
“Looking at the resume that we have, the discrepancies that we have may have necessarily come from typographical error. I want to say at this point, records don’t lie and if you look at what we have there and explain action that he has given. I think we should give him a benefit of doubt.
“I have a point that I want to make here. I want to say that I come from a part of Benue state that is a minority. I want to appeal to my colleagues to approve the nominations of my professor from Benue state,” he said.
But Titus Zam, another Benue senator, disagreed with Moro’s submission, saying that there were no discrepancies in the academic records of the nominee.
“I am from Benue and the nominee is from my constituency,” he said.
At this point, Senate President Akpabio said he would not entertain any question pertaining to the date in academic records of the Benue nominee after Moro approached him.
“I will not want to entertain anything on the issue of when he entered school again. Senator Abba Moro just pointed my attention to an important issue which the nominee will clarify,” Akpabio said.
In a move to bury the issue, Senator Elisha Abbo (APC, Adamawa) said the nominee is exceptionally brilliant, like himself, for starting primary school at the age of three.
“The nominee is exceptionally brilliant like me. I took entrance exam at the age of three and I won (sic),” he said.
The Benue nominee was asked to take a bow and go after speaking briefly on how he will turn things around in environment sector, without saying anything on his academic records.
Other nominees adequately grilled were Barrister Uju Kennedy Ohaneye, a medical doctor and philanthropist from Anambra; Dr. Beta Edu, National Women Leader of APC from Cross River; and Imaan Sulaiman Ibrahim from Nasarawa.
Immediate past governor of Rivers State, Barrister Nyesom Wike intimidated the lawmakers with his performance credentials as a governor.
He said there is hardly any senator that has not visited Rivers state and that they can all attest to the fact that within his tenure he “turned around the landscape of Rivers State.”
He said: “Within four years I constructed 12 flyovers. I was not the only governor that time, but I stood out, because of my desire and commitment to serve my people.”
On his membership of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Wike, who did not deny his membership of the PDP, said in leadership, political party affiliation “is immaterial, but the commitment to serve the people and solve their challenges.”
The former governor thanked President Tinubu for nominating him, saying he knows that he is hungry to serve the people and has the passion to serve the masses. He said the President will not regret nominating him.
“That I will do, irrespective of party affiliation,” he promised.
Before letting Wike off the hook, the Senate President said: “Wike is not new to us. The reason why we ask him to take a bow, was because he had appeared before the Senate before, when he was nominated as Minister in 2011.
“He already has his document with us and his performance in Rivers State speaks volume of his competence.
”His senators said they clearly endorsed him, the man before you is our best, he’s our role model of politicians in Rivers state.”
Akpabio asked if Wike would operate an open-door policy, should he be confirmed as a Minister, saying politicians often become inaccessible when elected.
Akpabio then asked the former Rivers governor to take a “bow and go” following a voice vote.
However, eight of the screened nominees enjoyed the parliamentary privilege of taking a bow because of their parliamentary experiences.
They are Senator Abubakar Kyari, who until his nomination was acting National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). He served in the 9th Senate from where he was elected APC Deputy National Chairman (North).
Akpabio asked him to take a bow and go if he does not have an additional information to his resume. So, Kyari left without uttering a word.
The nominee from Edo State, Hon. Abubakar Momoh, who was a member of the 7th House of Representatives, was asked to bow after Akpabio gave him a clean bill of health, saying “as a COREN-certified professional engineer, he is equipped to man any ministry or portfolio”.
One of the two nominees from Cross River State, Senator John Enoh, who had almost 20 years legislative experience, was cleared to bow and go.
Enoh was a member of the 5th, 6th and 7th House of Representatives while he also served in the 8th Senate.
He said having served in the legislature for four consecutive terms, he will do his best to serve well in the Executive arm of government.
Akpabio said anyone who has served as a senator has the pedigree and requisite knowledge to be a Minister.
The nominee from Sokoto State , Hon. (Barr) Bello Muhammad, a lawyer and lawmaker who at various times was a Minority Leader and Deputy Speaker in Sokoto House of Assembly, was asked to take a bow and go.
He later served as state Commissioner for Energy and Solid Mineral..
Immediate past governor of Jigawa State, Abubakar Badaru also enjoyed the privilege without saying a word after being introduced.
Akpabio said if there are one or two things to be said about him, during proper clearance he will tell the whole house.
A member of the House of Representatives and nominee from Ondo State, Hon (Dr) Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo was asked to bow and go.
But he made a little clearance on his non-participating in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) due to his age which was above the 30 years bar after returning from his studies in the United Kingdom.
Another former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Nkiruka Onyejeocha representing Abia State, was asked to bow and go.
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Finally, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar who was a member of Bauchi House of Assembly, was asked to bow and go. Until nomination, he was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany.
The exercise came to an end a few minutes before 6.00pm.
The Senate will continue with the screening exercise of the remaining 14 nominees today.
