The senate has resumed the screening of Festus Keyamo after the former minister tendered an apology to the lawmakers.
The Cable had reported how the upper legislative chamber was thrown into chaos following a motion demanding that the screening of Keyamo be suspended.
The motion was introduced on Monday when Keyamo went before the lawmakers for screening as a ministerial nominee. Darlington Nwokocha, a senator from Abia Central, was the one who made the motion.
The senator claimed that Keyamo disregarded the parliament’s summons in 2020 over the employment plan for the 774,000 Nigerians hired for the special public works program.
In the cabinet of former President Muhammadu Buhari, Keyamo served as the minister of state for labor and employment.
He said that the lawmakers had tried to blackmail him.
Representative for Abia South Enyinnaya Abaribe seconded Nwokocha’s motion to remove Keyamo’s screening.
The senate convened a closed session to address the matter after the proposal caused a stir.
Later, Senate President Godswill Akpabio met with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock mansion.
When the screening resumed, Keyamo apologized to the senators.
He claimed that the “issue” had been handled because he later testified before the relevant Senate committees following the “incident”.
The chief chip of the senate, Ali Ndume, made a motion to accept Keyamo’s apologies.
Akpabio asked for a voice vote, and it was unanimously approved.
Keyamo apologized, was told to “take a leave” by the senators, but no questions were asked of him.
“There is no need to apologize. I’m sorry,” he said.
The 48 nominees for ministerial positions have all been examined by the senate, and Keyamo is the final candidate.
The Senate President is anticipated to make a statement regarding the nominees and the following steps the upper legislative house will take.
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