Following Senate Tradition, Obanikoro Confirmed Minister, Opposition Cries Foul

Fayose hails confirmation as seven other nominees are cleared

Despite the concerted effort by senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop the screening and confirmation of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, the former High Commissioner to Ghana, in line with tradition that a past Senator must be automatically cleared, got the confirmation of the Senate to serve as a minister of the federal republic.

The drama surrounding the confirmation underscored the maxim that the majority will continue to have their way while the minority will only have their say.

The session was characterised by intrigues and power play as the Senate was polarised along party lines with the APC senators vehemently opposing the confirmation of Obanikoro, while their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterparts threw their weight behind him.

As the screening progressed, the exercise was characterised by recurring shouts of “point of order” by APC lawmakers, as senators from both parties engaged one another in a shouting match.

The matter almost degenerated into a brawl as Senator Mudashiru Hussein (APC, Osun West) was enraged and consequently removed his cap as he headed towards the PDP row with the intention of engaging Senator Smart Adeyemi (PDP, Kogi West) in combat. But he was blocked by his colleagues.

Earlier, Hussein had engaged Senator Ehigie Uzamere (PDP, Edo South) in a shouting match.

Points of order were raised by Senators Babajide Omoworare (APC, Osun East) and Gbenga Ashafa (APC, Lagos East), stating that the nomination of Obanikoro for ministerial office was already a matter of subjudice, displaying newspaper publications containing the court's originating summons to buttress their point.

While Ashafa cited Order 53(7) in the Senate Standing Rules, which prohibits the Senate from considering any matter before a court of law, Omoworare cited Sections 147(5), 13, 66, 28, among others, in the constitution to the effect that Obanikoro's confirmation would be in breach of these provisions.

But Senate President David Mark ruled them out of order, saying he was never served any copy of the originating summons from the court over the matter.

According to Mark, if he was not running away, there would be no need to serve him court summons on the pages of newspapers.

After screening the three other nominees whose names were stated on the order paper, the Minority Whip, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, cited Order 9, which gave him the power to address the senate president.

According to him, the Senate tradition which states that if at least two of three senators from a state oppose the screening of a nominee from that state, the nominee must automatically be dropped, emphasising that the three senators from Lagos State were opposed to Obanikoro's screening.

He affirmed that the Senate was caught between two traditions. The second tradition he referred to states that whenever any former member of the Senate appears before the chamber for screening, he must be automatically cleared without being asked any question.

Solomon therefore said the latter had to give way even though Obanikoro was once a member of the Senate.

He warned against setting a precedent that would alter the application of the tradition in the near future, citing instances when nominees had been dropped in observance of the tradition in the past.

But Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi (APC, Ekiti North), citing Order 15 of the Senate Standing Rules, stated that the Senate president had done injustice to him by stopping him earlier from moving a motion seeking to ask the Senate to investigate the alleged Ekiti audio rigging tape, which was the basis for opposition to Obanikoro's nomination.

According to Adetumbi, the same Mark who had stopped the motion, claiming that the matter was already subjudice had now turned around to shut down the opposition to Obanikoro’s screening on the grounds that he had not been served. Adetumbi described this as pure injustice.

But Mark explained that he stopped the motion because it had never been in the tradition of the Senate to investigate a matter that was already before a court of competent jurisdiction.

Eventually, when Mark put the screening of Obanikoro to a voice vote, majority of the senators voted yes, thus finally ending three weeks of opposition to Obanikoro's screening.

Angered by the development, the APC senators, led by their leader and Minority Leader, Senator George Akume, staged a walkout from the chamber and proceeded to Hearing Room Two to address the press.

At the press briefing, the APC senators accused Mark of double standards and application of Senate rules to promote partisanship.

They also accused him of conniving with his colleagues to perpetrate injustice, adding that the situation implied a gradual step towards destroying Nigeria’s democracy.

The APC senators were however, countered by the Senate Committee Chairman on Information, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, in another press briefing.

The senator said the agitation of APC senators that Obanikoro should be dropped because of a mere allegation of participating in rigging an election that has not been proved was misplaced.

He also argued that it would be wrong of the Senate to constitute itself into a law court by condemning Obanikoro over an allegation that has not been proved, adding that the upper chamber had applied the same principle by ensuring that some APC senators who are currently being tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged corruption had retained their seats.

Obaniko and others said to have been recorded on the audio tape have also argued that nothing in their conversation on the deployment of troops to provide security for the Ekiti governorship election, suggested that the troops should be used to rig the election.

He has maintained that it is the APC and its sympathisers that misrepresented the conversation that took place to create the impression that there was a collusion to use the military to rig the Ekiti election.

Abaribe said if the Senate had opted to act on the allegation of fraud against them by the EFCC when they had not been pronounced guilty by the court, they would have lost their seats.

The same principle that applied to such senators with criminal cases, Abaribe said, should also apply to Obanikoro until proven otherwise.

Eventually, the Senate confirmed all eight nominees whose names were sent to it on February 17 by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The nominees are Obanikoro, Senator Patricia Akwashiki (Nasarawa), Professor Nicholas Akise Ada (Benue), Col. Augustine Akobundu (Abia) and Mr. Fidelis Nwankwo (Ebonyi).

Others are Mrs. Hauwa’u Lawan (Jigawa), Mr. Kenneth Kobani (Rivers) and Senator Joel Danlami Ikenya (Taraba).

Also reacting to Obanikoro’s confirmation, the Lagos State chapter of the APC yesterday described it as a show of shame that further muddles the image of Nigeria and the Senate.

In a statement by the spokesman of the Lagos APC, Joe Igbokwe, the party said: “By its action, the Senate has shown that it is part of the grand conspiracy to institute a legacy of shame and corruption in Nigeria so long as such grows the selfish interests of the PDP.”

It added that Obanikoro’s confirmation was evident in the sinister intent of the Senate leadership and the PDP to institute deep-rooted corruption and illegality in Nigeria so long as their nefarious interests are met.

“The Senate leadership should cover its head in shame for trampling on the integrity of due process by confirming a person that was deeply implicated in an election rigging plot in Ekiti as a minister despite wide ranging protests against his nomination.

“It is obvious that the PDP presidency that nominated Obanikoro and the PDP members of the Senate that forced through decency and protests of Nigerians to approve his nomination are hell bent on corrupting both the laws and institutions of the Nigerian state by that howling act of rewarding criminality.

“It was obvious that the ministerial nomination and the controversial confirmation are means by which a corrupt and senseless party wants to mock Nigerians, mock its laws and mock decency to reward a character that should be docked for crimes against the state. It is just too absurd that a party should visit these illegalities on a nation,” APC stated.

However, the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, another principal character in the Ekiti audio tape saga, yesterday commended the

Senate for rising above pettiness by approving the nomination of Obanikoro.

In a statement in Ado-Ekiti by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, the governor said the senators had shown that national interests must be placed above party and parochial interests.

“The senators have shown the whole world that for our nation to progress, we must not allow ourselves to be misled by sentiments. The APC goons who are engaged in needless propaganda about a none issue of an audio tape have been put to shame.

“The matter is in court, nobody has been indicted and yet some people are bent on sabotaging the chances of a former member of the Senate, who had been previously screened and cleared by them in the past.

“I rejoice with Senator Obanikoro for in the end, the truth has prevailed over sheer propaganda and I wish him the best in his service to our fatherland,” he said.

Following his confirmation, Obanikoro took to his Twitter handle to express his gratitude to the Senate, adding that he bore no ill feelings towards those who opposed his confirmation.

He said: “I want to use this medium to express my profound gratitude to my distinguished colleagues in the Senate for their kind support.

“I am particularly grateful to the President of the Senate and other principal officers representing the Senate majority and minority.

“I have no ill feelings towards the Senators from Lagos, who stood against me. Their position has amplified the strength of our democracy.

“In times like these, we learn that there is no winner or loser and that our shared hopes are greater than the politics that divide us.”