By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor, Henry Umoru, Ben Agande & Inalegwu Shaibu
ABUJA— A list of 33 ministerial nominees was presented to the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark yesterday evening. The list was presented by an unidentified presidential aide to Senator Mark who is expected to formally unveil the names at today’s session.
Controversy, however, broke out yesterday over the reported disbursement of millions of naira to Senators allegedly to influence their decisions on some of the nominees. Senator Smart Adeyemi, vice-chairman of the influential Northern Senators Forum, NSF, was one of those who disclosed in an interview yesterday of offers being made to Senators to influence them one way or the other on the issue.
Meanwhile, controversy continued to shadow the process even as at last night with political influence peddlers aiming to overreach one another in the jostle for the cabinet.
Ahead of the screening today, Senators were last night locked in several caucuses where issues were being raised on some of the nominees and the resolution of appointments into Senate principal positions. A meeting of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, caucus was scheduled for midnight to settle unresolved issues around the nomination of Senator George Akume as the Senate Minority Leader. Another meeting of some concerned PDP Senators on the same issue was also scheduled for last night.
Both meetings were yet to commence at press time.
Interest on the screening process
Interest on the screening process heightened yesterday with the revelation that Senators were being pressurized one way or the other on some of the nominees. Some Senators were also preparing to put some of the nominees under pressure to ensure that only suitably qualified nominees scale through.
“You know this is our only time to subject them to serious questioning because once they are confirmed, they become lords unto themselves,” one Senator told Vanguard.
Pressure to disqualify some nominees
Senator Adeyemi, however, confirmed pressure coming from lobbyists to reject some of the nominees, notably some in the past cabinet who were injurious to their interests in the last dispensation.
Especially reported to be of interests to the lobbyists is a former female minister, Vanguard learnt.
According to Adeyemi, “we have been under intense pressure by lobbyists and political hired mercenaries to stop some nominees from being cleared or to disqualify some nominees by asking questions to embarrass them and stop them.
Offer of millions of Naira
“They have given many of us sleepless nights with offer of millions of Naira so as to discredit some nominees. But to some of us, this will not in any way affect the screening. The screening will follow the normal pattern. Once they scale through security screening which normally would have taken care of their moral and integrity, ours is to ask questions on their state of intelligence and plans to midwife the transformation programmes of the President.
“Many of us will be very much at alert to make sure that money is not allowed to play any role in this screening exercise. We have been told that some people should not be allowed to pass through the screening simply because they effected or carried out reforms that will empower Nigeria rather than foreign interest.”
The former Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Government Affairs who noted that some opponents of government were at work to frustrate the policies of government by working for the disqualification and subsequent removal of those who will help drive the developmental programmes of President Jonathan, said: “We have also noticed that there are political opponents and those whose business interest is being threatened by the reforms are involved in this crusade so as to settle business score.
‘’We, at the National Assembly will vehemently oppose further attempts to lure us to stake the future happiness of the Nigerian masses by attempting to scuttle the confirmation of otherwise qualified nominees to fill ministerial slots, particularly ministers who have restructured their ministries in the past. We shall resist the temptation for the sake of the nation and the Nigerian spirit.”
In the meantime, caucus meetings were ongoing yesterday to smoothen the adoption of principal officers today.
S-East, S-South Professionals caution Jonathan
Meanwhile, the South-East and South-South Professionals, yesterday cautioned President Jonathan not to further increase the cost of governance. The group in a statement by its President, Mr. Emeka Ugwu-Oju, said the proposed nomination of 42 ministerial candidates was at variance with the administration’s promise of reinventing a leaner and more focussed government.
“As a development and advocacy group of the South-East and South-South zones, from where the President hails, we owe it as a duty to advise the President. In the composition of his cabinet, we are worried by the discordant signals and feel obliged to remind the President of the high expectations of Nigerians and the confidence they reposed in him through their votes.
“In the midst of anxiety over the high cost of governance, Nigerians expect the President to run a lean and efficient cabinet composed of professionals with good track records and high integrity. Though the Constitution requires the President to appoint one minister from each of the 36 states, we do not expect him to exceed that number.
“Information from the grapevine that he intends to appoint a 42-member cabinet should remain what it is, a mere rumour. We understand that some pressure groups are advising him to follow the unsustainable waste such appointments caused in the past.”
We are also worried that an unwieldy cabinet will be counter productive to the imperatives of the transformation agenda.
“Our research shows that the cost of governance would go down by 10 per cent each year to achieve more than 40 per cent reduction, if the President reduces the number of ministers, parastatals, commissions and other areas of wastes during his tenure.”
The group as such advised the President not to bow to political pressures at variance with his
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