…..As senator accuses Saraki of playing god in Kwara
SAN FRANCISCO, December 05, (THEWILL) – The Senate again shunned its rule for the second time on Thursday to confirm the appointment of Professor Shaibu Oba Abdulraheem as the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) for a second term in office in spite of the opposition by two Senators from his State, Kwara.
Senate rule provides that any presidential nominee from any state of the federation, not enjoying the support of at least two out of the three Senators from the particular state, will not be confirmed.
Apart from Senator Simeon Ajibola (PDP Kwara South), the two other Senators from the State, Bukola Saraki (Kwara central) and Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara North), had opposed the re-nomination of the Professor for the appointment by signing the objection column of his consideration paper before the senate.
But the Senate based on the submissions of majority of its members, approved his appointment along with three others nominated for the position of federal commissioners in the commission.
The three other Presidential nominees approved along with Oba for the FCC appointments are Dr. Femi Ogunsola (Kwara); Hon Isibor Ifaluyi (Edo ); and Mrs Adaeze Gloria Idigo-Izundu(Anambra)
The Senate, it could be recalled, had on Wednesday during the consideration of the 14 Presidential nominees for the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), ignored the objections of two Senators from Rivers State to the nomination of the two nominees from the State by the President.
The Senate, in shunning the rule, cited the need for merit consideration against local politics for its change of tradition.
According to the Senate President, David Mark, the Senate’s decisions at the two instances were in order because merit must not be sacrificed on the altar of local politics.
“We must not and we should never sacrifice merit and efficiency on the altar of local politics. I think we must avoid that, not even on the altar of politics of any kind at all,” he said
However, during the debate for consideration of the Professor, Senator Nenadi Usman(PDP Kaduna South) accused Senator Bukola Saraki of playing god in his bid to stop Oba Abdulraheem’s appointment permanently by disclosing what transpired when she and Senator James Manager took the professor to Saraki’s office for support.
She said: “ But the question here should be that the person in question here, has he visited his senators, shown them respect or not and the answer here is, he has. I know one occasion when he was there; I went there with Senator James Manager.
“The unfortunate thing which everyone in this chamber knows is that when he visited the senator, he recorded their discussion, play it out and sent it through blackberry messenger back to his senatorial constituents where he showed and said that he believed he was that important, otherwise why were people coming to talk to him about the issue which means no one could get appointment from Kwara without his blessing.
“Yes, he said it. I think that this is a distinguished chamber, we are all distinguished members and we must act as distinguished members. I therefore call on each and every member of this distinguished senate to please, support the confirmation of not just the professor but other members.”
BY EMMA UCHE, ABUJA
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