THE convivial atmosphere that enveloped the screening of the first batch of ministerial nominees in the lat two days confirmed that before the Senators gathered at the red chamber, agreements have been reached and hurdles removed from the path of those who may find it difficult getting the nod of the senior lawmakers.

Many had thought that the political cracks within the structure of the National Assembly that were visible at the inception of the current session especially within the All Progressive Congress (APC) platform, would be more accentuated in the screening process.

Coming barely two days after a press release by APC leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu described the Senate President Bukola Saraki in uncomplimentary terms, even though Saraki replied with a mild tone, the stage appeared set for an epic battle among the supporters of the two figures on the floor of the Senate.

The expected battle never came as the differences that could have led to the disqualifications of some nominees were resolved during the period of intense lobbying and horse-trading that must have preceded the process of screening.

Nothing brought this to the fore more than the appearance of Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the controversial National Publicity Secretary of the APC who many thought was going to face a stiff opposition from members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

As the spokesman of the APC when the party was in opposition, Muhammed ran a very effective campaign against the PDP government during which he agreed during the screening “must have ruffled some feathers.”

As it turned out, Mohammed, former Chief of Staff (COS) to APC leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the first term tenure of the latter as governor of Lagos State, spent the least time among the ten nominees that appeared before the Senators on Tuesday.

His appearance, expectedly, also generated the most attention from the public gallery where spectators hailed his every move in anticipation of a serious grilling, like the kind that former Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who was second to appear before the Senators, was subjected to.

But rather than face stern faces and scratch his head to answer difficult questions, Muhammed, the Kwara State nominee who had earlier got the support of Saraki despite the fact that he had publicly opposed the emergence of the latter, was greeted by laughing faces of friendly Senators who threw pleasant banters at him.

Without as much as being asked what his mission in cabinet would be, the two political platforms in the chamber, the APC and the PDP represented by the Leader and Minority leaders, Senators Alli Ndume and Godswill Akpabio respectively, asked him to take a bow and go even though he was never a lawmaker as the suspended tradition of the legislature supported.

The motion that Muhammed should just take a bow was moved by Ndume and seconded by Akpabio who jokingly requested him to “drop some propaganda” before stepping out.

Not all Tuesday’s screening was as simple as Muhammed’s appearance. Many of the nominees were actually grilled as they were asked questions about specific areas of interests in their profile and taken to task about what they did or did not do in their public life.

For instance, Fayemi was asked by Senator Sola Adeyeye (Osun) to respond to allegations that he left a huge debt burden for Ekiti when his tenure ended last year and clear the air on allegations that he built a magnificent Government House despite the lean purse of the state.

Senator Shehu Sanni (Kaduna) sought to know how Fayemi, during the difficult days of the military, managed to get out of the country to float the guerrilla Radio Kudirat in London “while some of us were in jail here in Nigeria.”

In his response, Fayemi said he met obligations in excess of N30 billion when he became governor in 2010 and that he had to complete his predecessor’s project before he moved on to commence his original promises and programmes.

He said with low allocation from the federation account, he had to look for ways of raising funds, particularly from the capital market and multilateral development agencies adding that he raised N25 billion from the capital market and “the results are there to see.

“I borrowed but not in rank of the figure being bandied around. The Debt Management Office (DMO) has come out with a verifiable figure of N18 billion as the debt of Ekiti State.”

Responding to Sanni, he said he had never gone out of Nigeria through non-conventional borders but however added that the government needs to secure its borders to strengthen the security situation in the country.

It was however obvious that the Senators were hamstrung in their desire to take the nominees to task because of the lack of disclosure by the Presidency, of the intended portfolios for them.

Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, who expressed this while trying to ask Edo State nominee, Dr. Osagie Ehanire some questions said he was not even sure whether the man would be saddled with the Health portfolio despite having a strong credential as a Medical Doctor.

Many analysts have actually expressed reservation about the blanket questioning that characterized the screening process which could have been more specific and deeper if portfolios to be handled by the nominees were listed against their names.

Nevertheless, questions on health issues were asked Ehanire, whose name got into the list of nominees apparently because of his long-standing association with President Muhammadu Buhari since the 2003 presidential elections which Buhari contested for.

Responding, Ehanire proposed training and retraining of all actors in the health sector, a review of curriculum of health-related schools and proposed peer review of diagnoses by other doctors.

He said Nigeria has to design its own health models, not copy models simply because they had worked elsewhere adding that it is unethical for doctors in public service to open private hospitals and then divert patients there. He said a process would be put in place to draw the line on what doctors can and cannot do.

In the same vein, former Chairman of the PDP, Chief Audu Ogbe, who described himself as “a farmer who has interacted with some of you in the past”, was asked questions on agriculture.

He did a comparative analysis of the production capacity of the average Nigerian farmer with his counterparts in Zimbabwe, Uganda and the United States of America and concluded “Nigeria has the worst seed for planting in the whole world.”

The screening of retired Lt. General Abdurahman Dambazau, former Abia governor, Ogbonaya Onu who is nominated to represent Ebonyi, Suleiman Adamu from Adamawa and the only female nominee, Amina Muhammed from Gombe State followed the same pattern of Senators firing questions on areas of interests.

The exercise continues yesterday and the star attractions apparently, were the duo of former governors Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers and Raji Fashola of Lagos; Fashola because of perceived animosity between him and Tinubu and Amaechi because of the myriads of opposition against his nomination from among his people in Rivers State.

In fact, a strong petition written against the background of the recent indictment of Amaechi by a commission of inquiry set up by his successor, Nyesom Wike, was submitted to the Senate, which passed it to the Ethics Committee to handle.

There was also the fear that the former Rivers governor may not get the support of at least two Senators from his state in accordance with the rule that specified so.

While the screening of Amaechi who was slated to appear last among the Wednesday batch has been postponed till today, obviously because of the long time it took to drill Fashola and Ibe Kachiukwu (which was one hour each), there was no departure from the earlier exercise.

With Fashola on the podium, issues of national security, state police and management of the economy especially in the administration of Value Added Tax (VAT), improved Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and debt profile, were focused on.

Although questions were asked on allegations that the former Lagos governor spent huge amount on setting up a website and on the alleged deportation of non-indigenes to their states of origin, the versatility and the display of knowledge of the issues raised displayed by Fashola, made the Senators to ask him to take a bow and go.

Also yesterday, aside Fasola and Kachiukwu, Abubakar Malami, Chris Ngige, Aisha Alhassan, Solomon Dalong, Kemi Adeosun, Hadi Sirika and Adebayo Shittu were slated to appear before the Senate.