Buhari in dire straits over Amaechi
President Muhammadu Buhari must by now be considering what to do about the nomination of the Director General of his Presidential Campaign Organisation who was also a former Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, as a ministerial nominee. From all indications, the likelihood that he would get the nod of the senate to become one of the ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is very much in doubt.
All available facts points to the fact that he may not get the clearance of the senate because it is not likely that he would be able to meet the conditions made public by the senate for clearance. Yet, Amaechi is about the most loyal leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the South South geo political zone since he and four other former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors joined the party. What is more, Amaechi was said to have made substantial contributions to the campaign funds of President Buhari. How would the President compensate him?
To make matters worse for the President to remain on the side of Amaechi , the Probe Panel set up by the Rivers State government to probe his tenure as governor last Friday indicted him and recommended that the state government should take steps to ensure that he and few others refund about N100 billion. A group known as the Unity Forum had last week petitioned the senate, demanding that Amaechi should not be cleared. The petition is presently with the senate Ethics Committee and, the Senate President; Dr. Bukola Saraki directed that the report of the committee must be ready before the commencement of screening on Tuesday.
James Ibori, the former Governor of Delta State was once quoted as saying that there is nowhere in the world where those who financed the election of the President ware sent to jail after election. Anti graft agencies went soft on Ibori while Umar Yar’Adua remained in office. But, as soon as Yar’Adua lost grip of power through ill health, Ibori was picked up in Saudi Arabia and taken to Great Britain where he was later tried and jailed after pleading guilty in court.
President Buhari has remained loyal to Amaechi up to the point of nominating him for ministerial position. What can a President who anchored his programme on fighting corruption and committed to the rule of law do if his favourite candidate is not cleared by the senate?
What is the grouse of most of the people against Amaechi and why are they insisting that the senate should not clear him? Those close to him said he has openly admitted that he never worked anywhere after graduating from the University. He was said to have read literature in English and when he could not secure a job, he joined politics and contested election.
Amaechi was in the Rivers State House of Assembly and he became the Speaker. Amaechi contested for governorship ticket of the PDP and former President Olusegun Obasanjo told the nation that his case had K- leg at the time.
The Supreme Court later ruled that Amaechi should have been governorship candidate of the PDP and it was on the strength of that that Celestine Omeha who was the PDP sitting governor was torpedoed and Amaechi became the governor of his state. He ruled for eight uninterrupted years.
The question opponents of Amaechi are asking is: What job did he do apart from serving in government that made him so rich to be able to own a private jet? They wandered how a man who never worked all his life except to serve in government is so rich to the extent of becoming one of the major financiers of a presidential campaign.
The hurdles before ministerial nominees may effectively stop Amaechi and it is doubtful if there is anything the President can do for him. Speaking on behalf of the senate last week, Dino Malaiye told Nigerians that the senators are determined that it will no longer be business as usual and that there will no longer be take- a- bow and go. According to him, there are three conditions based on the Nigerian constitution and senate rules that would be followed.
He said the senate has decided that each nominee must have the backing of at least two out of the three senators from their states. Secondly, they must come with the certificate of prove that they have done their asset declaration with the Code of Conduct Beareu (CCB). Finally, nominees must get clearance from the Ethics Committee before they can hope to get the required clearance from the senate.
In what seem to be the reaction of the presidency to the stringent conditions for nominees by the senate, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Solomon Ita Enang, said the Senate was constitutionally empowered to prescribe conditions for the screening of ministerial nominees whose names were forwarded to it by the president.
He said: “The Senate is the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Senate is free to set its criteria for the screening of the nominees appearing before it. Our job will be to work with the respective senators and work with the respective nominees to make sure that the senators are satisfied so that they can confirm their nominations.
“We will not dispute with the Senate on what it wants because it absolutely lies in the heart and minds of the respective and distinguished senators to determine what to ask. We cannot from our own end, limit the question that senators can ask a nominee because the senators are free and the nominees will be free to answer the questions since the senators are within their rights to request what they want.”
In plain language, the presidency is telling the nominees that they are on their own and that the presidency will not lift a finger to assist any of them to scale the huddle of the senate grilling.
Perhaps what played out when a senator from Rivers State wanted to present the petition against Amaechi is what Nigerians should expect when screening commences on Tuesday. While the APC senators were shouting: “No, no, no, it is dead on arrival”, PDP senators were shouting: “Yes, yes, yes, present it.”
According to reports, Saraki asked if the case was in any court of law and when he was told that it wasn’t, he directed that the senator who brought the petition should lay it on the table.
How many of the ministerial nominees can boast of the backing of the senators from their home state? Already, there are over 25 petitions against the nominees and there are only 21 nominees so far. The nation was told that nominees will come in batches. It will seem as if Amaechi is in good company. He would not be the only nominee to face uncertainty when the screening commences.
The nominees are now at the mercy of the senators from their states. There are claims that some of those nominated are not practising politicians in their home states or that they are not indigenes of the state. The chances of close to half of the nominees are very slim if the senate decide to adhere strictly to its laid down rules as enuntiated by its spokesman.
Source: todayng