Politics
Uproar as Senators oppose Keyamo’s nomination as minister
There was uproar and division among senators on Monday over the nomination of former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN) as many of them sought the suspension of his screening.
The lawmakers, mostly from the opposition parties, particularly asked that the screening of Keyamo, the ministerial nominee from Delta State be stepped down pending when he clarified his past role in government, when he refused to abide by resolutions of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The nominee had appeared for screening in the Senate at around 1:30pm during which he gave introductory remarks and his past records of achievements as a private and public servant.
Keyamo, who had praised the Senators, said that he had already given up on being a minister but at the last minutes on Friday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted his name to the Red Chamber for confirmation.
“I have already given up, packed my bags to travel for a vacation with my family before my name was announced on Friday,” Keyamo said while acknowledging the fact that he had issues with Senator Godiya Akwashiki (SDP Nasarawa South) in the last Assembly, but that they are now good friends.
Trouble, however, started for the former minister when the Senate Deputy Minority Leader, Senator Darlington Nwokocha (LP Abia Central) raised a point of order on the need to defer the nominee’s screening.
Senator Nwokocha pointed out that Keyamo’s nomination should be stepped down because he refused to honour the National Assembly’s invitations in the 9th Assembly on the ground that he was not answerable to them.
He said: “Sometime in 2020, the issue of the public works programme came up with 20,000 to be given to 1000 people in the 774 local government.
“At a point, we wanted to carry out our responsibility, because we make laws to help the people and we also have the power of oversight.
“The nominee was invited over the N52 billion we appropriated. He publicly told all the people that the lawmakers want to hijack the process.
“Since he has been running away from here, he is here, it is our responsibility to find out.”
The lawmaker later moved a motion that that Keyamo’s nomination should be put on hold.
Seconding the motion, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe (APGA Abia South), stated that by virtue of Section 88 (b) of the Constitution, the Senate should suspend Keyamo’s screening.
Senator Abaribe said that anyone who deliberately rejected the summons of both chambers of the National Assembly, should know that there are implications for it.
“I support that the screening of this nominee should be stepped down pending when he decides that the national assembly has the power to inquire from a minister,” he said.
When the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, put the matter to a vote, there were conflicting voices, even though the ‘ayes’ had more reverberating impact than ‘nays’.
This led to the uproar and division among senators before the Senate President rose and addressed his colleagues, stating that Keyamo was not a nominee of the Senate but that of the President.
He asked the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, to speak on the matter, but the Leader instead called for an executive session, to enable members find amicable resolution to the contentious nomination.
Also, Senator Bamidele moved for the extension of their sitting time from 2pm, to enable the Red Chamber capture and exhaust all the items listed in the Order Paper for the day.
The senators later went into a closed session for full discussion of the controversies surrounding the nominee after the motion was seconded by the Minority Leader, Senator Senator Simon Mwadkwon.
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