Posted by By AMOS DUNIA and OLUWOLE AKINBOYEWA, Abuja on
The Senate yesterday declined approval of Alhaji Abdulrahman Adamu, national vice chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) North-East zone as minister, just as it deferred the confirmation of Mr. Humphrey Enemakwu Abah from Kogi East.
• Aliero, two others confirmed
The Senate yesterday declined approval of Alhaji Abdulrahman Adamu, national vice chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) North-East zone as minister, just as it deferred the confirmation of Mr. Humphrey Enemakwu Abah from Kogi East.
The two unsuccessful candidates were among the five ministerial nominees sent to the Senate by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua for screening and approval.
Those who got the Senate's nod were Senator Muhammed Adamu Aliero who was former governor of Kebbi State, Mr. Babatunde Omotoba from Ekiti and Mrs. Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman of the ANPP, also from Kebbi State.
Alhaji Adamu who is the North-East zonal national vice chairman of the ANPP was unlucky as his inability to live up to the expectations of the Senators nailed his chances of scaling through the screening exercise by members of the upper Chamber of the National Assembly.
In the same vein, the disagreement between Senator Smart Adeyemi and Nicholas Ugbane on the application of Federal Character principles and distribution of political offices regarding the nomination of Mr. Abah from Kogi East led the Senate to defer his confirmation to allow for further dialogue by the three Senators from the state.
Senator Adeyemi (PDP Kogi West) who lobbied Senators against the confirmation of Mr. Abah had objected to his confirmation, saying the nomination negated the principles of fairness and federal character in the distribution of appointments.
However, Senator Nicholas Ugbane (PDP Kogi) countered Adeyemi, saying the nominee was only a replacement for Mr. Gabriel Aduku who resigned owing to the unspent budget scandal in the Health Ministry. He stressed that it was most unfortunate that Kogi State's political matters were always brought to the front burner in the Senate.
Senator Ugbane faulted Adeyemi, arguing that since the inception of the democracy in 1999 till 2007, all the seven ministers and nine ambassadors as well as special assistants from Kogi were all from Kogi West Senatorial District, besides other sensitive political positions at the state level.
According to Ugbane; "Rather than complain, Senator Adeyemi should be concerned that his area had dominated all political appointments allocated to Kogi State before now and does not want to accept change based on agreement."
Curiously, the same Senate failed to accept the objection to the nomination of Mr. Babatunde Omotoba raised by Senator Sola Akinyede on the same issue of non-adherence to the principle of federal character. Akinyede could not sway his colleagues who gave the nominee a unanimous approval and thus got him set for swearing in as minister.
Before the Senate confirmation exercise, ANPP Senators had gone into a closed door meeting, emerging after about 30 minutes later to raise objection to the nomination of the two nominees from their party in the Government of National Unity (GNU) arrangement particularly that of their National Vice chairman, owing to what was considered "lack of consultation" with them as major stakeholders in the party.
The Senate President eventually nailed Alhaji Adamu before the confirmation exercise when he said that the ANPP nominee was failed to convince the Senate as he merely parried questions put to him by Senators.
Senate Committee Chairman on Information and Media, Senator Ayogu Eze, while briefing journalists after the closed door and plenary sessions, said the rejected Adamu was evasive, dodging all questions asked in respect of his curriculum vitae.
Eze explained that since it was necessary to know very intimately, the personality of the nominees sponsored as ministers, Senators had to ask searching questions.
"One of the five ministerial nominees, Alhaji Abdulrahman Adamu was very evasive. He dodged all questions put to him and it was very difficult going into his internal fibre. The other two confirmed ministers, especially the lady distinguished themselves," he concluded.
Eze commended the current repositioning of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and expressed the Senate's commitment fully in support of the newly launched anti-corruption crusade, stressing that the Upper Chamber would give the body the necessary legal teeth to enhance its performance.
He said the Senate had been examining the 2009 budget critically with a view to enhancing its performance, adding that the Senators retreat in Kwara State this weekend, had been postponed till early next year, to allow the budget to sail through before December 31, this year.
Eze expressed confidence that all those personalities cleared for the ministerial job would perform creditably, saying that they would not have scaled through the Senate eagle-eye if they had been suspected to be unfit during the grilling exercise.