#BlastFromThePast: 9 memorable Senate ministerial screenings By Daily Trust.

                             

                 


Former ministers whose ministerial screening raised some ''blues'' at the National Assembly in the past.

Since 1999 when Nigeria returned to democracy, appointment of ministers by the president and subsequent screening by Senate has become a major highlight of governance in the country. But some of these events have stood out over the years.
As the senate gets set to screen the first batch of President Muhammadu Buhari's ministerial nominees today, Daily Trust brings you nine most memorable highlights from 2008.

From a nominee weeping to others begging for forgiveness and one being accused of cooking for madam, Daily Trust serves you the juicy blasts from the past ministerial screening.



FEB 13, 2014 - AbdulJelil Adesiyan weeps



On Feb. 13, 2014: It was strange and emotional. A would-be minister was asked to say what he felt the Senate should know about him that was not stated in his CV.
His eyes suddenly turned red, releasing a flood of tears.

"I did not kill Chief Bola Ige," Alhaji Abduljelili Oyewale Adesiyan sobbed as he laboured to clear his name of the accusation that he had a hand in the death of Chief Ige.

FEB 13, 2011 - PDP chairman saved from the jaws of 'foul air'

At the resumed screening and confirmation of ministerial nominees, then Senate President David Mark devolved the powers of his office to save the Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, from an impending embarrassment in the chamber.

Mark's deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, also intervened to rally Senators to accord Comrade Abba Moro, Mark's Campaign Director in the April polls, the honour of 'bow and go.'

Earlier, Mohammed, a Veterinary Surgeon, read his resume and told Senators that as the Acting Chairman, he, with his team, 'have tried as much as possible to entrench internal party democracy within the PDP.'

Drama started immediately after Mohammed presented his resume to Senators, who clamoured for him to 'bow and go,' a tradition accorded only former or serving members of the National Assembly.

The chamber became noisy and only became quiet until Mark repeatedly hit the gavel which signaled a call for silence and order.
Undeterred, a section of the chamber repeatedly called out that Mohammed should bow and go.

Mark refused and told his colleagues: 'Please, you have a good product, market your product.'
He urged Senators to allow Mohammed answer some questions. He recognised Senator Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara Central ANPP) to ask the first question.

Marafa looked Mohammed straight in the eye and asked him why '40 years after you were a commissioner when some of the nominees on this list were still in school, with due respect, when will you allow fresh air in Kebbi State?'

Once again, the chamber was agitated. Former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Human Rights, Umaru Dahiru, raised a motion calling the attention of the Senate President to Marafa reading from a prepared text which is against the standing rules in the chamber.
Mark ruled on the motion and called on Marafa to continue with his questions.

Quickly, former Chairman of the Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs Committee, Smart Adeyemi, raised another motion via Order 53 (7).
Said Smart: 'The Senator used offensive language and it's offensive for him to have asked our Chairman when would he allow fresh air in Kebbi State.'

Rather than rule on the order, a bemused Mark chose to ask all the three Senators from Kebbi State whether Mohammed has not allowed fresh air in their State.

First, he called on Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu and asked: 'Is there any fresh air in Kebbi? Bagudu replied: 'He (Mohammed) is a breath of fresh air.

Next was Senator Mohammed Magoro who also replied in the affirmative and the third Senator, Isa Galaudu took it a notch further: 'There's fresh air in Kebbi State. In fact, the air is scented.'

Satisfied with that response, Mark said: 'As a mark of mutual respect for all the political parties and he, being the Acting National Chairman of our party, and it being the wish of our PDP Senators to ask him to bow and go, do we allow him to bow and go?'

A resounding 'aye' thundered in the chamber.

Quickly, Mohammed bowed before the Senate President and other Senators and left the chamber. Immediately he moved to step out, the chamber emptied after him. Senators jostled to escort him out of the chamber.


Samuel Ortom: Once a tout
The same treatment was accorded the PDP National Auditor, Dr Samuel Ioraer Ortom, who admitted to being 'a tout at Gboko.'

He told Senators how he went back to school and rose to become a secretary of the state chapter of the PDP before his emergence on the national stage
Ehigie Uzamere (Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Edo South) moved the motion for him to leave without answering any question.



'He was once a tout and rose to become somebody in life. This is somebody who knows what it means to be poor and he would work for the poor people of Nigeria.'



Senator Joshua Dariye (Labour, Plateau Central) concurred. 'If Nigerians are honest in displaying their credentials like this man, Nigeria would be a better place.

'I support that this man should bow and go.'



How Abba Moro took 'a bow and go'



Mark's man also got the same treatment of bow and go. Ekweremadu appealed to Senators 'to allow this nominee to bow and go' after Abba Moro read out his curriculum vitae.



Senator Abba Ibrahim seconded the motion 'on account of his humble beginning.' Mark told Ortom to bow and leave the chamber.



A former Senator, Idris Umar from Gombe State enjoyed the same privilege.



MARCH 2015 - Musiliu Obanikoro: Drama as APC senators walked out in protest



After about two hours of spirited legislative protests made by senators belonging to the main opposition party, the then All Progressives Congress (APC), to stop the screening and confirmation of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Senate eventually confirmed his nomination.



However, the APC senators staged a walkout.



The protest by APC lawmakers began with a string of point of orders, first raised by Senator Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central) to Ganiyu Solomon (Lagos West), who raised the 8th and the last point of order to stop Obanikoro's confirmation by the Senate, along with seven other ministerial nominees. All these created drama and tension at the screening session that day.



Saraki had, immediately the Senate resolved to start the screening of the last four ministerial nominees that day, through a motion moved by the Leader of the Senate, represented by the Deputy Leader, Abdul Ningi ( PDP Bauchi Central), raised Order 15 of the Senate rules under personal privilege, to remind the Senate President, David Mark, that the Senate resolved last week during a closed door session, to have another closed door session before carrying out the screening of one of the four, Musuliu Obanikoro.



But the Senate President ruled him out of order by declaring that executive session is not a privilege, but just a decision that can be made by the Senate at any time is deemed necessary.



Immediately after Saraki's failed attempt, Senator Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East) also made a spirited effort to stop Obanikoro's screening by raising Order 53(5) of the Senate standing rules which states: "That reference should not be made by the Senate to any matter on which judicial decision is pending in such a way as might in the opinion of the Senate President prejudice the interest of parties thereto."



Ashafa, who made reference to a story in one of the national dailies of the previous day, argued that since Obanikoro has a case against his nomination before a Lagos High Court and since Senate President Mark and PDP have also been joined in the suit, that the Senate in line with provisions of the standing order, disallowed Obanikoro from appearing before it for any screening or confirmation.



But Mark, ruling him out of order, said nobody has served him any notice on the case and, therefore, as far as he was concerned, "there is no case in court against the subject matter before the Senate for legislative consideration."



After Ashafa came Senator Babajide Omoworare (Osun East), who quoted relevant sections of the constitution and Senate' standing rules to support his opposition against Obanikoro's screening; but he was also ruled out of order by the Senate president.



The same fate befell Senator Olubunmi Adetunbi (Ekiti North) who even after the Senate had moved into the committee of the whole for screening and confirmation of the nominees still pushed to stop the exercise.



Adetunbi had, in his argument against Obanikoro's screening, premised his debate on Order 15 of the Senate standing rules, saying it would be gross injustice against him if Obanikoro's screening was allowed to take place on account that a case against that was already in court.



A similar judicial process, he disclosed, made him on the advice of the Senate president, to step down a motion he wanted to raise on the floor of the Senate over the Ekitigate saga in which Obanikoro was largely involved.



"If the screening of Obanikoro takes place in the Senate today, in spite of the case against his nomination in the court, it would amount to gross injustice against me because the motion I wanted to move on the Ekitigate saga on the floor of the Senate a few weeks back, allegedly revealing how Obanikoro and some others planned the rigging of Ekiti gubernatorial election in June last year, was stepped down based on advice given by the Senate President that the matter was in court," he stressed.



But Mark countered him by saying that the advice he gave to him against the Ekitigate motion was predicated on the fact that the Senate, by his tradition, never investigates any matter already in court.



Also, the last effort made by Senator Solomon (Lagos West) to stop Obanikoro also met a brick wall at the Senate. Solomon, who raised Order 53 (9) insisted that since all the three senators from Lagos State are against Obanikoro's screening, the Senate, in line with its known tradition, should defer his screening to another day, to give room for possible change of position of Lagosians, in particular, and Nigerians, in general.



The Senate President said with the situation on ground, the Senate was caught in between two known traditions.

One, he said, is to give any former senator nominated for ministerial position a take a bow and go privilege, and two, to stop any senatorial nominee, having two or the entire three senators from his or her state against him from screening and confirmation.



"We are no doubt caught between two different traditions here. The simple way out of the dilemma at hand is to put the question to the floor on whether the Senate should, in line with the first tradition, allow Obanikoro, as a former Senator to take a bow and go after which question will be put for the second one if answer to the first one is nay," he said.



March 2010 - Kanti Bello to Dora Akunyili: "You cooked for Turai"



"No, I didn't" says Akunyili



The first day of the Senate screening of ministerial nominees in Abuja recorded high drama and much excitement when Senate Chief Whip Senator Mahmud Kanti Bello (PDP, Katsina North), accused former Information and Communications Minister Professor Dora Akunyili of being part of the cabal that allegedly hijacked affairs of state in the absence of ailing President Umaru Musa Yar adua. He said Akunyili was at one time very close to the Yar adua family and that she went so far as to cook food for the First Lady Hajia Turai Yar'adua in order to ingratiate herself with the First Lady.



Senator Kanti Bello strongly condemned Mrs. Akunyili for alleging that a cabal was ruling the country due to Yar'adua's illness.



He said, "You were a very close friend to President Yar adua and his family and I know that from your background as a pharmacist you have been preparing some nice dishes for Madam and you were a member of the 'Cabal' you referred to. Based on these, do you think what you have done is to the best, in your knowledge, intended to foster unity of this country or an attempt to disunite the country?"



In her response, Akunyili denied ever cooking dishes for Hajia Turai. She said, "Sir, I never cooked for Madam. I was not in any way part of the cabal. I want to state here very clearly that President Umaru Yar`adua is my boss, my big brother, and he remains my brother and everybody knows that he is a fine gentleman and with beautiful spirit and I am loyal to him."



Senator Kanti Bello's heated questions and Akunyili's response threw the Senate into a rowdy session, with several senators talking at the same time, and Senate President David Mark had a hard time restoring order to the chamber.



At one point, Mark stood up, and he said, "Once the Senate President is standing, everybody must stop talking. This is the first time I am standing up as Senate President."



Adetokunbo Kayode defends 'doctrine of necessity'



Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Chief Adetokunbo Kayode, SAN, was screened just before Akunyili.



He was asked by Senator Garba Yakubu Lado [PDP, Katsina South] to explain if the 'doctrine of necessity' relied upon by the Senate to transfer full presidential powers from ailing President Umaru Musa Yar'adua to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan had any constitutional backing. Kayode defended the principle, saying it is an international principle adopted to be able to be able to wriggle out of tight situations when there is a lacuna in the law. He also praised the National Assembly for adopting the principle, saying it was first used in Nigeria in 1973.



Kayode said, "It is a matter of necessity to make progress and move forward and the doctrine is not our creation but an international creation. It was first applied in Uganda in the early 60s and we have applied it before in Nigeria. And what it means is that when there is a vacuum within the law, just jump over that bridge to make sure you do the right thing and there is a ruling in the Senate few weeks ago but some of us who studied the doctrine of necessity believed that it was rightly applied for the right thing to be done for the country to move forward and I think the whole of Africa would be grateful to the Senate for the application of that doctrine in that circumstance."



Sanusi Daggash asks for forgiveness



Borno State nominee Senator Sanusi Daggash openly admitted mistakes in the past and asked the stunned Senate for forgiveness.



However, President Umaru Yar'Adua's nephew, Alhaji Murtala Yar'Adua whose nomination was seen in some quarters as a calculated attempt to break the family told the Senate that his appointment was only a paradigm shift that should be encouraged.



He said that as a young man, he would serve in Jonathan's cabinet with vigour. But contrary to expectations, the Chief Whip of the Senate Senator Kanti Bello and Garba Lado who accused former minister of information Prof , Dora Akunyili of betraying the Yar'Adua's family declined comments on the appointment of Alhaji Yar'Adua as minister.



Daggash who claimed that he had visited senators at their private homes to apologize for his alleged uncomplimentary remarks about the Senate, however asked the Upper House to forgive him his past.
2008 - Chukwumerije's 'subtle bribery' jab backfires
The senators that lost their composure during the screening of ministerial nominees were Uche Chukwumerije (Abia), Ayogu Eze (Enugu) and Ikechukwu Obiora (Anambra). Trouble began when in a rare display of anger, Chukwumerije pointedly accused the Sokoto State nominee, Senator Bello Gada, of attempting to get confirmation through subtle 'bribery.'
He made his views known after the nominee introduced himself as a farmer, former Senator and an ex- member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party. Gada had said, "I was a Senator from 1999-2003 and during that period I was one of the principal officers. I was the Chief Whip. Now, I am happy I have joined the largest party in Africa – the PDP. I am the Chairman of the PDP in Sokoto State. I am happy to be with the majority. Your Excellency, distinguished colleagues, thank you very much."
After this, the President of the Senate, Mr. David Mark, asked for questions and comments from the Senators.
Most Senators shouted NO!
Unknown to Mark, Chukwumerije was waiting for an opportunity.
As soon as he was recognised by Mark to speak, Chukwumerije said, "You are the second eminent person coming here to introduce himself as a member of the PDP. That's good enough but to go beyond that to add the largest party in Africa, I am not disputing the fact, but I am disputing the timing of the fact and the forum of expression of the fact.

"The implication of that is going out of your way to perform an act of gratification to a majority because you owe something to that majority – you want something from them and this is what I can call subtle bribery.
"Now, if you want to be a minister and you are starting with an act of subtle bribery, how are we sure that when you become a minister, bribery giving and taking will not be a part of your policy?"
His remarks attracted loud protests.

Culled from daily trust