If President Muhammadu Buhari fails to submit list of ministers for screening by the Senate within five days, he may have to wait for another two months as the Naional Assembly is billed to proceed on two-month annual leave .
The indication was given by the Chairman, Senate ad hoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Adedayo Adeyeye, in an interview with the Sunday Punch.
According to him, the red chamber would proceed on its annual two-month recess this week if the Senate did not get the ministerial list by Friday.
In line with its annual calendar, the National Assembly is meant to go on its annual recess on July 26 and resume on September 26.
Buhari, who won election in February and was sworn in on May 29, has continued to delay the submission of the ministerial list, arguing that he will need to take his time to appoint the people he knows.
He said, “If the list does not come before Friday, the Senate will proceed on its annual recess. We are not giving the president any ultimatum. The schedule of the Senate will go ahead if the Senate does not receive the list. The list is the only thing that can hold us back.”
Adeyeye said the President was at liberty to send the list whenever he pleased and that the Senate also had a duty to consider it in the overriding national interest.
“However, any time they submit the list, we will consider it. It is not our responsibility to put pressure on the President. We can be recalled whenever the list is submitted even if we are already on recess, in the overriding national interest,’’ the Senate spokesman said.
Punch also quoted the Minority Leader of the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe, as saying that the Senate would go on its annual recess on schedule.
Meanwhile, if the House’s tradition is anything to go by, it would take the upper legislative chamber at least two weeks to screen the 36 ministerial nominees being expected from the executive arm.
Findings by Sunday PUNCH revealed that the upper legislative chamber would require at least two weeks to screen the 36 ministerial nominees being expected from the President.
Meanwhile, investigations showed that members of the red chamber were divided over the proposal by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, that members might have to postpone their recess to treat Buhari’s lists.
Some senators, who spoke with one of our correspondents off the record, said the idea of postponing the recess was not yet a resolution of the House.
Lawan had two Wednesdays ago said that the President could most likely submit the ministerial list for consideration and approval of the red chamber before the end of that week.
