Ahmad Lawan, President of the 9th Senate, has shielded Rotimi Amaechi, former Transportation Minister, from being questioned while the latter who is a ministerial nominees was being screened.
Ministerial nominees are to be screened and confirmed for them to resume office. If a nominee is a former federal lawmaker, while appearing for screening, the nominee is given the privilege to take a bow and go without being questioned.
When Mr Amaechi appeared for screening at the Senate plenary on Wednesday, Mr Lawan prevented lawmakers at the floor of the red chamber from questioning the former governor of Rivers State on account that he is a former state legislator.
Lawan’s submission did not go down well with Senator Danjuma Goje, who kicked against the decision of the Senate President.
Mr Goje said he wasn’t shown a similar gesture when he was nominated a minister despite being a former state lawmaker.
The Gombe lawmaker also said the decision of the Senate President to shield the former minister from being grilled by his colleagues from Rivers State is not known to the standing rule of the red chamber.
“I agree totally that it is not in our rules but we can regulate ourselves even without things in the rules,” Lawan said in response.
“So, we adopt this because we should extend this privilege to the House of Assembly. I think there is nothing wrong in that. The nominee (Amaechi) is just a beneficiary by chance. We are not doing this for him,” he added.
The former minister later bowed and walked out of the screening floor. TODAY POLITICS recalled that under the 8th Senate led by Bukola Saraki, Amaechi was questioned when he was first nominated a minister in 2015.
