Senate puts on hold screening of 3 ministerial nominees

The screening of at least three ministerial nominees was put on hold for reasons of age forgery and age falsification, among others, as the Senate commenced the exercise yesterday. Of the 14 nominees listed on the order paper for screening, seven, including the immediate past governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, were asked to take a bow and go, while four others were screened.

Others asked to take a bow and go included two-term members of House of Representatives, Abubakar Momoh, from Etsako Local Government Area of Edo State; Senator Abubakar Kyari, who was in the 8th and 9th Senate and currently the Acting National Charman of ruling All Progressives Congress, APC; a senator in the 8th Senate, Senator John Enoh; and the immediate past governor of Jigawa State, Abubakar Badaru.

Also asked to take a bow and go were former Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Nkiru Onyejeocha, who represented Isuikwuato/ Umunneochi Federal Constituency, Abia State; former member, House of Representatives and Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, since 2017, Amb. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar.

But those whose screening was put on hold and asked to clarify issues were Prof. Joseph Utsev who is currently the Rector of Federal Polytechnic, Wannune, the home town of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator George Akume. Utsev, who hails from Buruku Local Government Area of Benue State, is said to be the candidate of Akume.

The nominee in his resume indicated that he was born in 1980 and finished his primary education in 1989 at the age of nine, thereby drawing the attention of the Senate on 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 from 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.