The chances of former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, of being cleared by the Senate for a ministerial appointment brightened on Monday as the Presidency said his screening by the Senate without debating a report on petition filed against him was in order.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, disclosed this in Abuja during an interactive session with correspondents.
Controversy has been trailing last week’s screening of Amaechi by the Senate even as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senators faulted the process with insistence that the Senate should have debated the report on Amaechi before screening him.
The Senate Ad hoc Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition which should have laid the report during plenary mid last week had said it could not probe the petition against Amaechi because a case against him is still pending in court.
However, Ita Enang said the step the Senate took on Amaechi was in order, stressing that Senators acted within their constitutional right and in line with their own proceedings.
He said: “The constitution authorises the Senate and the House of Representatives and every legislative House to regulate its own proceedings including managing matters that are brought before them.
“Therefore, what the Senate did is domestic to the Senate and I am not in a position to speak about it but they are within their constitutional right.
“They are within their constitutional right to regulate their own proceedings”.
Ita Enang, however, commended the manner the Senate handled the screening of ministerial nominees so far, stating that the Senators deployed maturity, experience and understanding while handling the screening exercise.
He added: “Senators have shown in the handling of the matter on the floor of the Senate, their personal experiences, interaction and maturity. They have shown the candour and the real characteristics nature of matured Senate.
“I want to really appreciate them because Nigerians thought that the process will be very tumultuous, the process will be very rancorous, and that the questions to the nominees would be very personal and attacking.
“But the Senators during the screening process showed their intellect, their candour, their appreciation of national issues, the issues that relate to governance, the international perspective to the quality of candidates”.
Ita Enang also commended the personal qualities and attributes demonstrated by the nominees so far screened, adding that each of them gave good account of themselves during the question and answers sessions.
He said he was sure that those so far cleared to be ministers among the nominees are the people Nigerians have been waiting for, as according to him, they will constitute a good team of the President.
He also expressed words of appreciations to President Buhari for being painstaking in “searching for men of qualities and high status across all divides of the country while assembling them for the future cabinet of Nigeria”.
Screening of more ministerial nominees will continue today (Tuesday) with expectations that the additional nominees so far screened would be confirmed during the week.
source-->Dailytimes.com.ng