After weeks of political power game, the Senate on Thursday screened former Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi as a ministerial nominee.
But senators from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party refrained from asking questions, saying that their All Progressives Congress counterparts betrayed the agreement they had not to screen the ex-Rivers governor given the report of the panel that investigated the petitions against him.
Amaechi had arrived on the premises of the National Assembly around 10.30am, dressed in Rivers attire. His name was Number One on the order paper, with other nominees. –
Heineken Lokpobri (Bayelsa); Omoleye Daramola (Ondo); Adewole Folorunso (Osun); Baba Shehuri Mustapha (Borno); and Ocholi James (Kogi ) – listed in that order.
The ethics committee of the Senate was said to have advised that Amaechi screening be left till the end of the cases of alleged corruption he has in court.
Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, citing the Standing Order 43 of the Senate Rules told his colleagues from the All Progressives Congress (APC) that since the Senate has decided to screen Amaechi without debating the report of the Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions Committee, which investigated the petition submitted against the nominee, PDP senators had resolved not to ask the nominee any question.
Reacting, the Senate Majority Leader, Ali Ndume who capitalised on the PDP’s strange refusal to ask questions, challenged Akpabio and PDP senators’ decision, stressing that what it meant was that the nominee could as well be asked to bow and go.
He said: “As a majority leader, it is my responsibility to market this nominee for the confirmation of the Senate. If these people have decided not to ask any question, my job is made easier.”
There were loud protests at Ndume’s choice of words did not go down well with his colleagues in PDP as he referred to them as ‘these people.’
They insisted that he tenders apology and retract the statement.
It took the intervention of the Senate President Bukola Saraki, who explained to the opposition senators that Ndume has retracted his language, to douse the near-rowdy session on the floor.
A report cited an unnamed PDP senator as saying, “We had opened Thursday’s sitting with a closed session, which lasted for 50 minutes to sort out knotty issues relating to the screening of Amaechi.
“During the closed session, Chairman of the Ethics Committee, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, briefed us on the report and indicated that the committee reported that the issue regarding Amaechi’s petition was in court and that the Senate should suspend action on his screening, pending the resolution of the court issues.”
It also cites another senator as saying that the PDP senators were surprised when the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the other APC senators started asking Amaechi questions.
The two and others alleged that all the senators at the closed session had agreed that the PDP senators would insist on not having anything to do with Amaechi, while their APC colleagues also agreed that they would only ask the nominee to only “take a bow and go.”
The Chairman of the Senate’s Ethics Committee, Sam Anyanwu, had laid the report of his committee regarding the nomination of Amaechi on the mace table. The Senate had earlier met in closed-door session before opening the plenary.
The report was, however, not debated as the Senate simply went ahead to screen Amaechi.
The business of the day commenced with the laying of the report of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, on the alleged fraud allegation against Amaechi, by Anyanwu. On the directive of the Senate president, Amaechi was led into the chamber moments later by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang; the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora; Governor Rochas Okorocha; Rivers APC governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside; Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba and a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba.
Amaechi enumerated his achievements as Rivers State governor for eight years to show he is a performer, pledging to improve on the relationship between the executive and the legislature.
He claimed his administration in Rivers State was the first to institutionalise the system of due process in public procurement, giving the impression to the Senate that his appointment as minister would be a credit to the war against corruption for which he said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was voted into power.
He also defended his activities as Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, stating that the governor’s forum checked the excesses of the federal government.
When asked questions regarding his involvement in alleged cases of corruption and misappropriation of public funds, Mr Amaechi insisted he was not indicted by the report of the panel.
He went further to say that he had “never collected a bribe” in his life. This was in response to being asked by Senator Shehu Sani to explain what he considered to be corruption – a word he said was hard to define.
“Corruption is very difficult to define. If you’re a public officer and you don’t take bribe – I have never taken bribe in my life – but if they send a girl to you and you sleep with the girl and do that favour, you’re corrupt,” he said.
Amaechi said he has the experience and the capacity to advance the course of governance in Nigeria, adding that Nigeria’s dependence on natural resources was unnecessary.
He also said that huge investment in agriculture, technology, mining and education would help in solving the unemployment problem in Nigeria, adding if the issue of massive unemployment rate must be dealt with, then there is need to deal with the change in economic mantra by diversifying the economy.
