Leke Baiyewu, Abuja
The Senate has denied lifting, through the back door, the embargo it placed on confirmation of appointments made by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The upper chamber of the National Assembly said the appointments recently confirmed were considered to be serious enough to call for exceptions.
The Senate had in March 2017 resolved to suspend further consideration of appointments made by Buhari to protest against the retention of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, despite his rejection by the lawmakers.
The lawmakers had also been irked by the position taken by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, then as Acting President, that executive appointments did not require legislative approval based on Section 171 of the Constitution.
Between March and June 2018, the chamber had, however, confirmed no fewer than 18 appointments, excluding those rejected or considered.
The Senate had on March 22 confirmed the appointments of Mrs. Aishah Ahmad and Mr. Edward Adamu as Deputy Governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
It had also approved the nominations of three of the four members of the Monetary Policy Committee. They were Prof. Adeola Festus Adenikinju, Dr. Aliyu Rafindadi Sanusi and Dr. Robert Chikwendu Asogwa. Rejected was Dr. Asheikh A. Maidugu.
On April 12, the Senate confirmed the appointment of three members of the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission. They were Chuka Ama Nwauwa (Imo State), Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa (Ondo State) and Nwogu N. Nwogu (Abia State).
Speaking to our correspondent in an interview, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi, denied that the lawmakers had lifted the embargo through the back door.
Sabi-Abdullahi stated that the embargo was placed by the lawmaker based on the comments made by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and not the retention of Magu as the EFCC boss.
He said, “What the Vice-President said clearly is that we do not have the powers for confirmation. He did not limit it to the issue of Magu. That was why the Senate considered it very grave enough to say that, ‘Since that is it, then fine. We will cease to carry out that function. Let them carry it out themselves.’
“Because we serve the people, the exceptions you talked about were serious enough to require that we give an exception. So, there is nothing like the issue of a back door (lifting of the embargo). These (confirmations) were discussed in the same chamber where the (embargo) resolution was taken.”
The Senate’s spokesman was asked if the remaining appointments under embargo were not considered to be critical to the economy and Nigerians.
Sabi-Abdullahi said, “It is not for me to answer. The question is: Is the National Assembly not critical to our democracy? Why is our issue not important?”
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: theeditor@punchng.com
Source: Punch
We appreciate you for reading our post, but we think it will be better you like our facebook fanpage and also follow us on twitter below.