Senate Fails to Confirm Nomination Of El-Rufai, 2 Other As Ministers Waiting Security Report, Checks

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna State, and two other presidents Bola Ahmed Tinubu nominations for cabinet positions have had their confirmation by the Senate put on hold.

This comes as 45 of the 48 ministerial nominees that President Tinubu submitted for review and approval have been approved by the Senate.

The three remaining nominations would be confirmed following proper security clearance, according to sources from The Vanguard, which claim that Senate President Godswill Akpabio made this announcement during the session on Monday, August 7.

Nasir El-Rufai from Kaduna State, Stella Okotete from Delta State, and Abubakar Sani Danladi from Taraba State are the nominees whose status has not yet been determined.

Senator Idris Karimi of Kogi State alerted the audience during El-Rufai’s screening that he had a petition against the former governor that touched on matters of security and religion. El-Rufai was a two-term governor of Kaduna State.

However, the Senate President rejected the petition, claiming that it was their responsibility to interrogate the applicants about their candidacy and appointment if they were successful.

Akpabio added that a petition of this nature would be sent to the proper authority for inquiry, and the Upper Chamber would use the results of that investigation.

The nomination of Okptete, the Executive Director (Business Development) of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), was controversial since she was charged with failing to declare her assets.

It was also requested that the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) look into the claim that Okotete was running a business while she was on active duty.

The Red Chamber declined to confirm Abubakar Sani Danladi, another former governor of Taraba State, although they did say they would do so as soon as the security report was completed.

The Senate has explained why it did not question former federal lawmakers who are President Bola Tinubu’s nominees for ministry positions.

The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, indicated at the start of the screening on Friday that subjecting the nominees who are former MPs to a rigorous grilling would be a waste of time because the serving members already understood their backgrounds and qualifications.

He asserted that “this practice of ‘bow and go’ privilege extended to legislators is a global practice, not limited to the Nigerian parliament.”

Bamidele claimed that to dispel the misconception that the Senate was not questioning the nominees as promised but rather only allowing them to enter and exit the chamber after presenting themselves, an explanation was now required.

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