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Titi: In today’s episode, we are moving from discussing development issues to politics.
As everyone knows, President Bola Tinubu nominated his cabinet members and their names were sent to the Senate for evaluation. This will be the crux of our conversation today.
I will have a conversation with Abdulqudus Ogundapo, premium times correspondent covering the Senate. He will share in about 30 minutes the highlights of things that occurred at the seven-day ministry screening.
Titi: There were reports of ministerial candidates having problems with their educational qualifications. Did the Senate realize this? If so, how was it handled?
Abdulqudus: First, a total of 48 people were nominated for selection, but 45 were confirmed and another three were rejected as a result of security clearance.
Yes, there are some of the nominees who had questionable educational certificates that showed up for the screening along with their Curriculum Vitae. Premium Times had reported on some of the discrepancies in some of the certificates of the nominees. You are aware of the NYSC saga we reported on Tunji Ojo, the nominee from Ondo State and Hannatu Musawa from Katsina State.
So, we can say that there are discrepancies but nobody knows the criteria that the Senate used to confirm those that were approved. I think the Senate has criteria for evaluating the president’s nominations, but the problem is that the criteria are often politicized. But in answer to your question, yes, the nominees presented their document to the Senate, but they did not highlight the discrepancies.
Titi: How would you rate the relationship between the executive and the legislature regarding the selection process?
Abdulqudus: I want you to understand that the current president we have in Nigeria is a politician who knows how to do what he wants. President Bola Tinubu single-handedly elected Godswill Akpabio as President of the Senate, and of course, the President of the Senate would never go against his director’s wishes.
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We can all attest to this when Festus Keyamo appeared before the Senate for his selection. After the senators filed a motion to suspend Keyamo’s nomination, the President of the Senate immediately rushed to the village to meet with President Tinubu. I think in the meeting, the president ordered Keyamo to apologize to the senate, which he later did and explained how the federal government of ex-president Buhari spent the federal government’s N52 billion Special Public Works Program in 2020.
Titi: Did Senate 10 keep its tradition of bowing and going for some ministers as was done in previous assemblies?
Abdulqudus: Yes, the Senate upheld the tradition of bowing to former legislators, whether in the House of Representatives or in the Senate. Even former governors were not tested
Titi: What were the controversial moments of the screening?
Abdulqudus: First of all, when Nyesome Wike, former Governor of Rivers State, went before the Senate for selection, people were shocked by his earlier outburst that he would never become a minister.
The second was when Tunji Bosun, a ministerial candidate appeared before the Senate. He was questioned in the old tweet of him saying that he did not appreciate having a Nigerian passport. It was an embarrassing moment for him because the senators were really questioning him about the tweet, but he had to apologize and said that he tweeted in anger.
Benue’s candidate, Joseph Utsev, was also questioned after senators discovered age discrepancies on his certificate. In his resume it appears that he was born in 1980 and finished high school in 1989. It was Senator Abba Moro who later explained that the discrepancy was due to a typographical error.
Titi: It was the first time that I covered a ministerial screening. How was your experience?
Abdulqudus: It was very nice to cover the screening. He gave me an idea of who our leaders are. Other than that, it was very stressful because I would come home late at night like 11pm and wake up early in the morning.
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Let hear it in the comment below if you do have an opinion on this; How was the ministerial screening in the Nigerian Senate