Skip to main content

Ministerial Screening: Senate In Tight Corner Over Amaechi

Today, October 21, Nigerian dailies are focused on a number of issues especially the ongoing Senate ministerial screening which is taking a long time to conclude. Vanguard reports that the ministerial screening of Rotimi Amaechi has put senators belonging to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a tight corner.
Unless the Senate confirms or formally rejects him by Thursday, October 29, Amaechi would automatically be sworn in as a minister upon the expiration of the 21-day constitutional deadline allowed the Senate to confirm or reject a ministerial nominee. Section 147 (6) of the constitution setting the deadline on confirmation of ministerial nominees states thus: “An appointment to any of the offices aforesaid shall be deemed to have been made where no return has been received from the Senate within 21 working days of the receipt of nomination by the Senate.” The Senate will not be sitting today as senators decided to stand down plenary to enable them accompany Senate President Bukola Saraki to the Code of Conduct Tribunal for his trial which continues today. APC senators reportedly axed today’s plenary to avert the fear of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy president of the Senate, presiding and giving the PDP an advantage in the confirmation process. However, it was gathered that PDP senators after a caucus meeting yesterday vowed to stop Amaechi’s confirmation. It still unclear whether Saraki would appear before the tribunal today in view of one of his lawyer’s reaction to Monday’s inability of the Court of Appeal to deliver its judgment on Saraki’s main appeal, in which he is challenging the validity of the charges made against him at the tribunal, The Punch reports.
Saraki’s trial at the CCT which began last month had been adjourned to October 21. Saraki is facing a 13-count charge of corruption made against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau. He first appeared before the tribunal on September 22. The Justice Danladi Umar-led tribunal, after Saraki was arraigned, had fixed October 21 for the commencement of trial. On Tuesday, the Senate president filed a fresh application for stay of the proceedings of the CCT due to Monday’s failure of the Court of Appeal to deliver judgment on his earlier appeal. Saraki is challenging the trial on the grounds that the CCT, not being a court, could not exercise judicial powers and that the charges filed at the time an attorney general of the federation had not been appointed were incompetent. The Senate once again failed to screen Amaechi, the former governor of Rivers state, yesterday, The Guardian reports. The Senate deferred his screening last week due to the inability of the committee on ethics and privileges to conclude investigations into petitions brought against Amaechi by senators from his state.
Though the committee was said to have concluded the investigations and promised to present its report, nothing was heard about it yesterday. It appears there are behind-the-scenes maneuvers surrounding Amaechi’s screening as two different Order Papers were produced for plenary yesterday. The first Order Paper had the names of eight ministerial nominees including Amaechi, but it was withdrawn, only to be replaced with another one which had only three names for screening. Consequently, only two people were screened, Adebayo Shittu, a three-term member of the House of Representatives, and Khadijah Abba Ibrahim, the wife of a former governor of Yobe state, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim. In other news, a special intelligence response team set up by the inspector general of police, Solomon Arase, foiled a plot by some suspected terrorists to plant an improvised explosive device (IED) at the popular Wuse Market in Abuja, Daily Sun reports. It was reported that the terrorists were planning to carry out their attack in various parts of the Federal Capital Territory.
The team arrested five suspected terrorists who will be charged to court in the next few days. They were apprehended at their hideouts at Karamajiji village behind the national military cemetery along Abuja Airport road and Iddo village located directly behind the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Two others were picked up from a hideout at Dan-Asato village, in Suleja, while another was picked up at Gauraka village, also in Suleja, a satellite town in Niger state, near Abuja. A top security officer said they recovered various kinds of chemicals used for making IEDs numbering over 30, plastic containers, 15 bombs in the four locations mentioned, a registered motor vehicle licence, 20 detonators, one laptop, two books on bomb-making and various kinds of weapons. The Nation reports that the Nigerian army is probing the Ekiti and Osun states’ governorship elections to determine whether its men acted unprofessionally.
This comes over one year after the polls were held in both states. The army is also looking into the alleged malpractice of its men in some states during the last general elections. According to the army spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, these measures were being taken to avert a recurrence. He said a board of inquiry had been set up to probe allegations of misconduct against its personnel.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

MISS EDEMAYA BEAUTY PAGEANT 2013

EdemAya, a community so rich in mineral resources, and one of the five clans that make up the present day Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria is hosting the world on the 29 th of March 2013. As we gathered from the head of the organizing group, Miss Precious Dominic Akpan, the event is scheduled to take place at the Cooperative Hall, Ikot Ubo Akama, Edemaya in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State. Three beauties are to emerge from the event which promises to be the first ever organized pageant. The Eligibility Form which are currently on sale for a token of N 2,000 will qualify the contestants to struggle for Miss EdemAya, Miss Democracy of EdemAya and Miss Culture & Tourism of EdemAya. The screening and training of the contestants commences on 25 th through 28 th of March 2013. We have been reliably informed that the event will parade ‘who is who’ in the music industry in Akwa Ibom State and a popular reggae artist from Delta State. Imagine the sque...

Snoop Lion Excommunicated From The Rastafari Community

Snoop Lion excommunicated from the Rastafari Community, according to Bunny Wailer! Bunny has always had his doubts about  Snoop Lion ‘s intent and now his skepticism has taken an even stronger stance, that of excommunication. The news was broken via his  Facebook  profile and via  press release . Recently Snoop Lion has struggled to convince the Rastafari and Reggae community that he is sincere about his profession of, and transition to the faith, principles and beliefs of Rastafari. Most doubtful is Bunny Wailer the only living member of the original Wailer. ‘ Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it. Some groups use the term disfellowship instead, ‘ stated Bunny’s official release. With that said, this would surely deprive Snoop Lion from direct contact to some elders within the Rastafarian community also, access to vital information and place of wo...

VIDEO: Two Girls Stripped In Public For Stealing Brazilian Hair

These two young girls were stripped naked in public by a shop owner after they were caught stealing  Brazilian hair . According to information gathered, these girls entered  the shop  as if they were interested in purchasing something. One of the girl’s intentionally decided to engage the owner in a conversation by asking lot of questions on the types of  Brazilian  hairs at the store and then the other girl was busy stealing Brazilian hairs. Watch the video  below: