‘Beautiful’ Female Ministerial Nominee Distracts Senate

Amidst the screening of ministerial nominees at the senate today, a remark by senate majority leader, Abdullahi Yahaya threw all lawmakers in a fit of laughter.

After a female ministerial nominee, Ramatu Tijani Aliyu, introduced herself to the senate, the senate minority leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, asked her to take a bow and go.

The senate majority leader also stood up to give his comment and caused bout of laughter in the senate when his colleagues mistakenly thought he addressed the nominee as beautiful.

He had eulogized the nominee as eloquent and intelligent and added that she was also dutiful. But his colleagues who probably heard beautiful, burst into laughter throwing the senate chamber into a moment of rowdy laughter.

If the majority leader actually described the ministerial nominee as “beautiful”, it would have been regarded as a sexist statement.  

The majority leader still standing had to explain that he said “dutiful” and not “beautiful”.

But before she was asked to take a bow, another senator also rose to put the records straight quoting a senate rule. He said “the senate leader did not say beautiful, he said du-ti-ful!”

After this, the senate president Ahmed Lawan asked her to take a bow and go.