The Senate halted the screening of at least three ministerial nominees on Monday due to age forgery and age falsification, among other issues.
Seven of the 14 nominees listed on the order paper for screening were asked to take a bow and leave, including Rivers State’s immediate past governor, Nyesom Wike, while four others were screened.
Others asked to take a bow and leave included Abubakar Momoh, a two-term member of the House of Representatives from Etsako Local Government Area in Edo State; Senator Abubakar Kyari, who served in the 8th and 9th Senates and is now the Acting National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC; Senator John Enoh, a senator in the 8th Senate; and Abubakar Badaru, the immediate past governor of Jigawa State.
Former Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Nkiru Onyejeocha, who represented Isuikwuato/ Umunneochi Federal Constituency, Abia State; and former member of the House of Representatives and Nigerian Ambassador to Germany since 2017, Amb. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar were also asked to take a bow and leave.
Prof. Joseph Utsev, the current Rector of Federal Polytechnic, Wannune, the hometown of the SGF, Senator George Akume, was among those whose screening was halted and who were asked to clarify issues.
Akume’s candidate is said to be Utsev of Benue State’s Buruku Local Government Area.
In his resume, the nominee stated that he was born in 1980 and completed his primary education in 1989 at the age of nine, drawing the attention of the Senate to how he would be in primary one at the age of three.
The two others were Senator Abubakar Sani Danladi, Taraba, who was alleged to have been banned by the Supreme Court from holding public office for ten years and Bello Mohammed, Sokoto State, whose case had to do with his secondary school leaving certificate,
The Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, said that those who had issues would have their cases looked into at the stage of confirmation.
Arch. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa of Katsina State, Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji of Enugu State, and Stella Erhuvwuoghene Okotete of Delta State were among the nominees whose names appeared on the Order Paper but were not screened.
The screening process, which began at 1.32 p.m. and ended at 6 p.m., began with Abubakar Momoh, a two-term House of Representatives member from Etsako Local Government Area in Edo State.
Momoh was asked to take a bow and leave soon after introducing himself as a former councillor, local government chairman, ex-member of the House of Assembly, and a two-time member representing Etsako federal constituency.
Nyesom Wike, the former governor of Rivers State, was the second person to appear before the Senate in the hallowed chamber.
Wike told senators that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would not be sorry for nominating him as a minister, describing himself as a performer.
When Wike was governor, he executed and commissioned a number of capital projects across Rivers State, saying, “Every day I was commissioning projects.” Mr President will not regret nominating me as a minister.”
Senator Mpigi Barinada (PDP, Rivers), for his part, stated that over five million people in the state-supported Wike’s ministerial nomination and urged his colleagues to release him.
Following a voice vote, Akpabio then asked the former Rivers governor to take a bow and leave.
Despite protests from senators from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the Senate president struck the gavel.
Senator Abubakar Kyari, who served in the 8th and 9th Senates and is currently the acting National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, also appeared at 2.55 p.m.
Senator Kyari was asked to take a bow and leave as a former senator and acting national chairman of the APC.
Abubakar Badaru, the recently-departed governor of Jigawa State, was the next speaker. He was followed by Senator John Enoh, a member of the 8th Senate, and then Nkiru Onyejeocha, the former deputy chief whip of the House of Representatives and representative of the Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency in Abia State. They were all asked to bow and leave.
Senator Abubakar Sani Danladi, a former acting governor and deputy governor of Taraba State, was asked about the Supreme Court’s decision to bar him from holding public office. He responded, “There was nothing in Appeal Court; they just struck out the case for lack of merit.
“At the Supreme Court, Mrs Mary Odili said the Federal High Court, Jalingo was wrong to have passed the judgement in that manner because when I was a deputy governor in 2007, they used their executive power at the time to nullify me, so from the Supreme Court, I had to go back to the Federal High Court, Jalingo because the Supreme Court said there was no basis for the Federal High Court, Jalingo to do that judgement.”
“Then the same jurisdiction of the Federal High Court Jalingo now sat on the same judgement and set aside that judgement that is hanging on me.”
Responding, Akpabio said: “The Federal High Court, Jalingo, gave a judgement 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 judgement, they become Funtus Officio in Law and can no longer sit as an appellate court over its own judgement, 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 in the public interest, We will give him chance to finish, and as soon as he finishes, he can take a bow.”
Senator Danladi went on to say, “On the same issue, Senator Shaibu Lau took the matter to the Federal High Court, Abuja, here sir.” The Federal High Court ruled in my favour, and he appealed to the Appeal Court, which upheld the Federal High Court’s decision.
”He now went to the Supreme Court, the court gave me judgement, so there was no judgement from the Supreme Court. As I am talking, the Supreme Court is hearing me, there was no judgement. If there is judgement, it is here.”
