The Presidency has backed the controversial ‘bow and go’ tradition of the Senate in which some nominees of the President are excluded from the rigours of extensive questioning by senators during confirmation hearings.
This comes as the number of ministerial nominees that have enjoyed this privilege has increased to 18 out of the 31 screened so far, representing 58 percent.
Speaking with journalists on Friday night after the screening of 31 nominees, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, pointed out that it is a tradition of the Senate to accord privilege to some ministerial nominees.
Enang, himself a former member of the National Assembly, explained that the same tradition obtains in advanced democracies like in the United States of America where Nigeria copied its democracy from as well as the United Kingdom which colonised the country.
“It is a tradition which started even in the UK Parliament, US Congress. It is parliamentary tradition everywhere,” Enang said.
He pointed out that only former members of the National Assembly enjoy such privileges.
“For you to be nominated and be qualified to be a nominee qualified for appointment as a minister, you must be qualified to be a member of the House of Representatives. And so it is taken that you are qualified and have been screened.
“Now for you to have been a member of the National Assembly, it is taken that you are the person who earlier screened and passed other persons. And that you are coming, having been a member of this institution; that you are deemed to have gone through all the tests.
“Unless there is something which has arisen which after your tenure, can be seen and questioned. And that is not a matter for the Senate. It is only a matter which only the security agencies can handle. But the Senate is right in saying if you were a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives, you are deemed to be qualified and nothing has happened to demean that,” the presidential aide added.
BusinessDay reports that the screening exercise which commenced on Wednesday, July 24 with the controversial ‘bow and go’ tradition is expected to continue on Monday, July 29 and end Tuesday, July 30.
It was gathered that the policy which began in 2003 as a privilege strictly meant for nominees who had been elected to the Senate in the past, has now been extended to all serving and former members in the House of Representatives as well as their counterparts at state assemblies.
Other categories of nominees who now enjoy ‘bow and go’ privilege are all female nominees, all nominees from the state of origin of incumbent Senate President, national officers of the governing party as well as ‘friends of the legislature’.
Late Senator Wahab Dosumu, who represented Lagos Central Senatorial District between 1999 and 2003 was the first to enjoy the privilege when he was appointed minister in 2004 after defecting from the then Alliance for Democracy (AD) to the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Among President Muhammadu Buhari’s 43 nominees who have so far enjoyed this privilege include Chris Ngige (Anambra), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), George Akume (Benue), Emeka Nwajuaba (Imo), Adeleke Mamora (Lagos), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).
Others are Tayo Alasoadura (Ondo), Mustapha Baba Shehuri (Borno), Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa), Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti), Muhammadu Musa Bello (Adamawa), Abubakar Malami (Kebbi) and Pauline Tallen (Plateau).
The olive branch was also extended to Abubakar Aliyu (Yobe). Although he is not a former lawmaker, Senate Leader, Abdullahi Yahaya, had called on his colleagues to grant him the privilege of not being questioned on the grounds that his brother was not only an ex-lawmaker but that he is a constituent of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.
Also excluded from scrutiny were four female nominees: Zainab Ahmed (Kaduna), Sharon Ikeazor (Anambra), Ramatu Aliyu (Kogi) and Sa’adiya Farouk (Zamfara).
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
