Senators grill Sunday Dare, Dada, Magashi, Abdullahi

For four of the 14 ministerial nominees, Thursday’s Senate screening was no walkover.

Ten others were simply asked to take a “bow and go” — a policy that has been criticized as a mockery of the process.

Those upper chamber grilled included Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd), Sunday Akin Dare, Mohammed Abdullahi and Ambassador Zubairu Dada.

Senator Tayo Alasoadura, Abubakar Aliyu, Mustapha Baba Shehuri, Timipre Martin Sylva, Ramatu Tijani Aliyu, Otunba Richard Adeniyi Adebayo and Mohammed Musa Bello were asked to “bow and go”.

Other nominees, who also bowed and left were Senator Chris Nwabueze Ngige, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed and Sa’adiya Umar Farouk.

The upper chamber adopted the controversial “bow and go” policy on Wednesday as a privilege to former senators, members of the House of Representatives and members of the states Houses of Assembly.

Some senators were, however, uncomfortable with the policy, which they said did not give them any opportunity to ask nominees questions.

Before the session started, Senator Bamidele Opeyemi spoke of the need for the Senate to clarify the policy of “bow and go” to Nigerians.

The Ekiti Central senator said that the clarification was necessary because the media was giving the impression that every nominee was asked to take a bow and go.

Senator Bashir Ajibola said that there was nothing wrong with the policy.

The Osun Central senator noted that the rule Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje quoted on Wednesday to oppose the policy referred to ranking.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan, in his ruling, said that there was no need to prolong the debate of the policy.

Lawan said that the chamber had already a standard which should be followed.

The Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, also questioned the policy.

Abaribe, who read the constitutional provision that empowers the Senate to screen ministerial nominees before appointment, reminded the chamber that what they were doing was “confirmation hearing and not endorsement hearing”.

Abaribe said that the Senate should endeavour to go by the dictates of the Constitution.

The former ECOWAS Monitoring Group Field Commander, Major General Magashi (rtd), told the Senate that infighting among Service Chiefs was affecting military operations.

He admitted that relationship between Service Chiefs was indeed “not cordial” as expected.

Senator Orji Uzor Kalu had asked General Magashi how he would address infighting among Service Chiefs if he was assigned the Defence ministry.

The Kano State nominee noted that infighting among Service Chiefs was unhealthy for successful operations.

He said: “But, as you rightly said, the operation between the Service Chiefs is not very cordial, I put that in quotes.

“My relationship is very simple, the creation of the relationship has been in existence since the creation of the office of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

”In the process, all of our operations that would have been conducted internally and externally are governed by the principles of the hierarchy of command.

“And where the echelon is weak, probably downwards, we will also be weak.

“Regarding the Service Chiefs, in my own view, we have come to a situation where you find that each commander or each Service Chief is trying to please the nation.

“In Nigeria today, there is what we call the command structure; the command structure is now seen as a witness.

“The military is always ready to acknowledge performance. We don’t want to always hear that we have not performed.

“The theatre of war, I think we encourage it because every day you find one problem either for north-east or the central or anywhere, then we need troops to cover those areas.

“I don’t think the current structure shows the true reflection of our requirements.”

Read Also: Senate screens Alasoadura, Aliyu, Shehuri, Magashi

Sunday Dare, who is an Executive Commissioner of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), dwelt on what the telecommunications regulator is doing to reposition the sector.

The Senators appeared to have been overwhelmed by the wealth of experience exhibited by the nominee.

Unlike most of the nominees, Dare was prepared to answer all the questions posed to him.

The Senate President was the first to ask the nominee how kidnappers could be tracked with their telephones.

Dare explained what the NCC had achieved since two years ago when he joined the commission.

Dada answered questions on the defunct Mass Mobilization for Social and Economic Recovery (MAMSER).

When the Niger State nominee left the chamber, Senator George Thompson Sekiko raised objection that his CV was not clear.

Sekibo noted that if Dada was allowed to answer his question, he would have cleared some gray areas.

The Senate President countered that the copy of the CV he had was clear.

Lawan added that he sympathized with the position of Sekibo.

Senator Alasoadura (Ondo) was the first to be screened.

Alasoadura, who represented Ondo Central in the Eighth Senate, chaired the Petroleum committee (upstream).

Before he was accorded the privilege of “bow and go”, the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) came up.

Lawan took some time to educate new senators on steps taken to pass the PIB.

Lawan recalled how the bill’s duplication that made it difficult to identify which was the correct version.

On the way forward for the bill, the Senate President noted that there was the need for stakeholders to meet to articulate a comprehensive PIB that the National Assembly would work with.

Former Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing Mustapha Baba Shehuri (Borno), who read a prepared speech, was asked to take a bow and go.

He is a former member of the House of Representatives.

Lawan re-emphasized the fact that the policy of “bow and go” for former MPs was still very much alive.

Senate Minority Leader Enyinnaya Abaribe made a case for a specific schedule of duty to be assigned to ministers of state.

Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje countered that the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency has a clear schedule of duties for minister of state.

Abubakar Aliyu, immediate past deputy governor of Yobe State, the home state of the Senate President, promised to assist the government to take the country to the next level.

Senator Kabiru Gaya (Kano South) described Aliyu as “a gentleman to the core”.

Gaya said that the Yobe State nominee should be allowed to bow and go.

Senator James Manager (Delta South) promptly seconded the motion that Aliyu should be allowed to bow and go.

According to Manager, the Senate has a tradition, written and unwritten, some of them not known to the public.

He reminded his colleagues that “this nominee is from Yobe State and we have a tradition here. I will not go further than that.”

Lawan described Aliyu as  “committed and loyal”.

All the women nominees who appeared, Aliyu, Ahmed and Farouk, were asked to take a bow and go after introducing themselves.

The Senate will continue with the screening today, with the consideration of eight nominees.