Senate leadership may involve EFCC, ICPC in ministerial screening

There are strong indications that senate leadership may involve the Economic and Financial Crime Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission in the screening of would-be senators, as it announced that it will adopt the formal procedure for screening in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday.

The Punch is reporting that a principal officer of the senate who asked not to be named said during the meeting the senate will decide whether to give special considerations to former ministers and former senators included in the list sent by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said the meeting is necessary because the senate has vowed to be thorough when screening the ministers. “As far as we are concerned, everybody should be equal but at the same time, we have a convention that gives special considerations to former and serving senators or members of the House of Representatives, yet we say there won’t be the usual take a bow approach.

“We also have another convention that says two senators from a state must approve confirmation of the nominee from their state, what happens if the senators are in the opposition party with the nominee?”

Also, the People’s Democratic Party member representing Abia North Senatorial District, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, said President Buhari must appear before the Senate if he wants to be Petroleum minister.

Ohuabunwa said, “The constitution is clear and we will follow the constitution and the laid down rule. I don’t think the President’s name will be on the list and I also don’t think that the President will say he is a minister.

“If you are a minister one of the conditions is that you must be subjected to screening and approval of the Senate. He, as the chief minister, can be there to supervise any ministry but he cannot be a minister. Whoever is advising him to be a minister is not advising him rightly.”

But the Deputy Senate Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, disagreed with Ohuabunwa on the appearance of the President in the Senate for screening before he could function as a minister. Na’Allah said the president and his vice had been given constitutional powers to carry out all the functions in the executive arms of government without necessarily asking for the permission of the legislature.

He said, “The President does not have to appear before the Senate before he could perform as a minister or oversee any ministry. He has the executive powers to carry out necessary functions alongside the vice president. “

Ohuabunwa also stated that any allegations of corruption  levelled against nominees will be taken into consideration when they are being screened. “Definitely we will not ignore allegation of corruption against any nominee. If we see a strong petition, definitely we will look into it and follow it to a logical conclusion.

“If it requires writing to the anti-graft agencies such as the ICPC or EFCC to give us a report on such a person, we will do that because that is what screening is all about. Screening is not a tea party. Integrity is very important. If you have in one way or the other soiled your hands, it will be unfortunate because the Senate will not just say carry go.”