Ministerial list: Uproar in Senate over Amaechi

• Commission, ex-gov’s associates disagree over alleged graft
• Lagos PDP, Okunnu differ over Fashola
THERE was uproar yesterday in the Senate over the ministerial nominees list submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari following the submission of a petition against one of the nominees and former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi‎ to the Senate by Senator Thompson George Sekibo.

Meanwhile, groups in Rivers, including the state chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Rivers Progressive Front (RPF) have expressed support for Amaechi’s nomination.

This is coming just as a judicial commission of inquiry into the sale of valued Rivers State assets by the immediate past Amaechi, administration has submitted its report in which it was alleged that N53 billion withdrawn from the state reserve fund was misappropriated.

Beyond Amaechi, senators continued to react to Tuesday’s ministerial list with senator representing Delta North under the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ighoyota Amori describing the list as a compensation to those that assisted the APC to power and falls short of national expectations, while Senator Kabir Marafa, APC Zamfara Central urged Nigerians to exercise patience and judge the nominees by their actions.

Citing Order 41 of the Senate Standing ‎Rule, Sekibo informed the Senate that his constituents asked him to submit a petition protesting Amaechi’s nomination.

But he was not allowed to finish his presentation before loud shouts of No! No!! No!!! emerged from the section of the chamber occupied by APC senators. They were immediately countered by PDP senators who shouted Yes! Yes!!‎ Yes!!!.

The situation became so rowdy that Senate President, Abubakar ‎Bukola Saraki had to use the gravel to restore sanity.
Also, former Federal Commissioner for Works, Alhaji Femi Okunnu (SAN), has called on Nigerians to forget about the delay in Buhari’s submission of his list.
He told The Guardian in a telephone interview yesterday that the important thing for now is for the senators to settle down and conduct a proper screening.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State chapter of the PDP said the list is filled with names of corrupt former governors and persons facing accusation even from within the ruling APC.

When Sekibo was recognised to continue, he told his colleagues that the petition deserved prompt attention because the issues it raised ‎were very significant in determining the anti-corruption stance of the government.
The petition was referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions for consideration.
Sekibo said the petition, equally sent to the President emanated from Port Harcourt-based Integrity Group , an organisation that believes in transparency, good governance and effective utilisation of funds allocated to any state government.
Sekibo said: “They went into a research and discovered that over N70 billion was transferred from hard currency account to places outside the country.
“A petition on this was written to Mr. President and I believe that if the President had read it, he may not hurriedly nominate Rotimi Amaechi to be a minister. Amaechi is qualified to be a minister but when issues of corruption and fraud are openly x-rayed by people, it is necessary for Mr. President to take a critical look and examine the allegations from these people whether they are true or not.
‘‘We applaud Mr. President for the fight he is waging against whoever over corruption . So, if you are fighting against corruption, then there must not be any sacred cows no matter how close such a person is to you.
‘‘If there are allegations about him, you must spend time to critically look at them whether there are truth about the allegations that have been so submitted. I am informed that this petition was forwarded to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission a month or two and it has commenced investigation.
“So, why not allow this period to go over and allow them to do their investigation and come out with the result?
‘‘On the other hand, the Rivers State Government set up a judicial panel of inquiry to investigate the sales of state government-owned properties. Former Governor Amaechi refused to appear to defend himself. Now, what does it mean? If you are accused of something and then you refuse to appear, it means you know something about it.”

But the Rivers Progressive Front (RPF) made up of senior politicians and professionals in the state and the state chapter of the APC have commended Buhari for Amaechi’s nomination.

Administrator of RPF, Sotonye Ijuye-Dagogo said it was eloquent testimony that the change Buhari promised has come to stay.
“The RPF hereby wholly endorses and expresses total support for Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, the Lion of Niger Delta politics and a leader of the commonsense revolution,” Ijuye-Dagogo said.

The APC chairman, Davies Ikanya said by the singular act, “Buhari has liberated Rivers State from the shackles of a despotic and demonic clique that thought that by propaganda they could rewrite the history of Rivers State and run down a man whose love for the development and emancipation of Rivers State and Nigeria is infectious.”

Meanwhile, the judicial commission of inquiry into the sales of valued Rivers State assets by the Amaechi administration, has submitted its report, alleging that N53 billion withdrawn from the state reserve fund was misappropriated even as the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, has vowed to expose those indicted and take action immediately to see that the recommendations made by the commission are implemented.

The chairman of the commission, Justice George Omereji, while presenting the report to the governor at the Government House, Port
Harcourt yesterday, said while the commission may not want to talk about the content of report, if the governor goes through the report and implement the recommendations, Rivers people will be better for it.

Okunnu advised against speculations, as he said the alleged misappropriation of Lagos finances by former Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, whose name is on the ministerial list cannot be substantiated until he is found guilty by a competent court of law.

The octogenarian said the ex-governor may have his plus and minus “but he has not been indicted of corruption by any court of law for any misdemeanor. Allegation of corruption must be proved. I think we should stop all the speculations and character assassination and allow the senators to do their job of screening.”

The Lagos PDP Spokesman, Taofik Gani said Fashola should not be cleared by the Senate unless he can show to them why he left such huge debt in Lagos “yet left the state without affordable housing, no local government polls, human right violations, inflated contracts.

According to PDP, “for Lagos nominee, Fashola cannot pass public opinion of the people, he should rather answer to the allegations contained in the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) petition.

Speaking to The Guardian yesterday, Amori added that the list was a shock and fell short of national expectations.
He said: “First, to be frank, it is shocking that the first list of ministers as was read on Tuesday by the Senate President fell short of national expectations particularly with their ‘change mantra’ slogan.