42 ministerial nominees may be disqualified if…- Senate – TheNigerialawyer

The Senate says some ministerial nominees may not scale through
the screening if they fail to provide their certificate of asset
declaration which is a condition for persons holding public
office.

The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, stated this while sustaining
a point of order raised by Bayelsa West lawmaker, Lawrence
Ewrudjiakpo, at the ministerial screening.

This implies that 42 out of the 43 ministerial nominees who have
once held public office risk being disqualified if they don’t
provide evidence of asset declaration by next week.

Earlier, Ewrudjiakpo noted that the Senate rules stipulate that
all ministerial nominees who have once held public office must make
available their certificate of asset declaration to the Senate.

Order 121 states: “The Senate shall not consider the nomination
of any person who has occupied any office contained in part 1 of
the 5th Schedule of the constitution prior to his nomination unless
there is written evidence that he has declared his assets and
liabilities as required by Section13 of Part 1 of the 5th Schedule
to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Such
declaration shall be required for scrutiny by the Senate.”

The Bayelsa senator argued that most of the nominees that had
been screened had failed to abide by this rule.

He, therefore, called on the Senate to enforce this rule in the
spirit of transparency and accountability.

Ewrudjiakpo stated, “Mine is an appeal to say that all the
nominees that have appeared before us, very few of them have
provided evidence of declaration of assets. I move that the
National Assembly liaison should facilitate their submission of
such declaration because before we were sworn in, we declared our
assets.

“I want to suggest that the Senate takes this notice and asks
them before we go into the confirmation stage to submit such
requirement.”

In his response, the Senate President said, “Your point of order
is sustained.”

Addressing journalists later, the Bayelsa senator said the
constitution requires the President, Vice President, the service
chiefs and heads of extra-ministerial departments to declare their
assets before they are screened

“It is a breach of the constitution. If we are fighting
corruption, we must be seen to be doing so. We should know what
they are worth before coming to office and what they are worth at
the end of their tenure,” he argued.

All the ministerial nominees, only Uche Ogha of Abia State is
not bound by the law having never held public office before.