JUST IN: El-Rufai, Two Others Fail Senate Confirmation

Immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, Senator Abubakar Danlandi from Taraba State and former Nexim Bank, MD, Stella Oketette, Delta State, on Monday failed Senate confirmation hearing.

The three failed to get confirmation from the upper legislative chamber when the Senate announced the confirmation of ministerial nominees who would now be assigned portfolios by President Bola Tinubu.

El-Rufai, Danladi and Oketete were among those screened by the Senate a week ago.

In announcing the confirmation of the screened candidates for ministers on Monday, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio announced 45 out of the 48 nominees sent by the President.

El-Rufai’s ordeal began last week during his screening when a petion was referenced by Senator Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West).

THE WHISTLER gathered that the petitions against the former FCT Minister were over three which bordered on national security, extreme view, ethnic cleansing and others.

The Kogi Kogi West lawmaker tried to announce one of the petitions against the former Kaduna State Governor but Akpabio kicked against it during the screening process.

“Your performance in any office you find in the country has been outstanding. In the bureau of public enterprises, your record is there, in FCT as a minister, your record is there, and as two-time governor of Kaduna state, you did well,” Karimi said, raising a brown envelope.

He added that, “But, I have a very strong petition against you that borders on security, unity, and cohesiveness of the Nigerian nation.

“And I think that the petition has to be considered in this screening exercise.”

But when he laid the petition before Jibrin Barau, the Deputy Senate President who was presiding over the committee of the whole when Akpabio stepped down momentarily, Barau said, “I don’t know if you followed the normal process, but this is the opportunity for nominees to explain and showcase themselves, later we will come to confirmation and approval.”

But curiously, other senators hailed el-Rufai including Senators from Kaduna State, El-Rufai’s home state.

Speaking on behalf of the three Senators, Kaduna North senator, Ibrahim Kalid, said all three senators from the state support el-Rufai’s nomination as minister.

Akpabio who later took over said of the petition that, “This is not the place to consider petitions, we will sit with the petitions later and refer them to relevant authorities.

“Please, take a bow, my brother.”

In Dalandi’s case, there was a court judgement restricting him from holding public office for 10 years. He was asked during the screening about the ban but he denied it.

Similarly, there were petitions against Oketete which include non-disclosure of assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau, inaccurate and false presentation of education records among others.