The name of the immediate-past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, was on Monday missing from the list of the ministerial nominees confirmed by the Senate.
Senator Abubakar Danlandi of Taraba State and Stella Okotete, the former managing director of Nexim Bank (Delta State), were also absent from the list.
45 of the 48 nominations that President Bola Tinubu submitted had their confirmations granted by the Senate.
The unconfirmed nominations are currently undergoing security checks, say reliable sources in the Senate.
According to one of the sources, “Based on the findings, the nominees are currently undergoing security checks, having found some things against them.”
According to a second source who spoke to The PUNCH, “We are watching them and think there are some things that are incriminating against them. We have therefore resent the executive their names for the required inspections.
Yemi Adaramodu, the spokesperson for the Senate, corroborated the source by saying that the Red Chamber had confirmed 45 names while three others were still awaiting additional legislative action.
“Forty-eight names, including both males and females, were sent,” Adaramodu added. The final screening was completed for 45 candidates, and the three others are awaiting additional legislative action, which will depend on the activities of other government agencies.
“However, as of today, 45 of the 48 names submitted have been confirmed and accepted as Federal Republic of Nigeria ministers.
The President will be informed of this along with the three other names that are currently pending legislative action.
The PUNCH stated that several petitions were presented against El-Rufai during the screening, including those sent by Senator Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West).
During the ministerial screening, the member from Kogi West spoke out against the former governor of Kaduna State.
Following El-Rufai’s presentations, Karimi got up and informed the audience that he had filed a petition against the former governor on the security situation in Southern Kaduna.
“Your performance in any office you have held in the nation has been outstanding,” he remarked. Your record in the Bureau of Public Enterprises is there, as is your record as a minister in the FCT, and you did well in your two terms as governor of Kaduna State.
But I have a very compelling petition against you that touches on the security, togetherness, and cohesiveness of the Nigerian nation, Karimi continued, holding up a brown package.
“And I believe that this screening process needs to take the petition into account.”
Karimi then went on to present the petition to Jibrin Barau, the Deputy Senate President who was overseeing the screening process at the time.
However, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, stated during his intervention that “this is not the place to consider petitions; we will sit with the petitions later and refer them to relevant authorities.”
The PUNCH further said that Dalandi was the subject of a suit over a court order barring him from holding public office for ten years.
Danladi refuted claims that the Supreme Court had prevented him from holding political office for 10 years because he had lied under oath when he was questioned about them.
The existence of copies of several petitions against Okotete in the public domain further showed that the former Nexim Bank MD was the subject of numerous petitions, some of which included claims that Okotete had failed to disclose assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau.
The nominees that were approved include Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State, and David Umahi, the former governor of Ebonyi State. Additionally, the acting chairman of the All Progressive Congress, Abubakar Kyari, the APC Women Leader, Beta Edu, the deputy chief whip of the Ninth House of Representatives, Nkiruka Onyejiocha, the eminent lawyer Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), and Dele Alake (Ekiti State), the President’s Special Advisor on Media, Strategy, and Special Duties.
Others include Adebayo Adelabu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria who recently left his position at Gavi; Ali Pate, a former minister of health who recently left his position at Gavi; Senator John Enoh of Cross River State; Abubakar Momoh of Edo State; Amb. Yusuf Tuggar Maitama of Bauchi State; Architect Ahmad Dangiwa of Katsina State; Hanatu Musawa of Katsina State
Imman Suleiman (Nassarawa), Joseph Utsev (Benue State), Mohammed Idris (Niger State), Olawale Edun (Ogun State), and Former governors Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun, Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi, Simon Bako Lalong of the Plateau, Bello Matawalle of Zamfara, and Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State were included on the second list of 19 men.
Dr. Tunji Alausa from Lagos, Sen. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi from Niger, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri from Bayelsa, Sen. Alkali Ahmed Saidu from Gombe, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu from Kebbi, and Hon. Zephaniah Jisalo from FCT are some of the others.
Additionally listed are Prince Shuaibu Audu (Kogi), Dr. Bosun Tijani (Ogun), Tanko Sununu (Lagos), Lola Ade John (Taraba), Tahir Mamman (Taraba), Dr. Maryam Shetty (who was later replaced by Mariya Mahmoud), and Ahmed Tijani Gwarzo (Kano).
Festus Keyamo (SAN), a former minister of state for labor and employment, was last on the list.
Oladaily (
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