Daniel Bwala, a legal practitioner and spokesperson of the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign during the 2023 presidential election, has strongly condemned the senate screening of ministerial nominees that took place on Monday and Tuesday.
Added to his condemnation of the exercise, Bwala said out of all the candidates screened by the Senate committee, only six he could vouch for their integrity, competence, and character.
“I don’t know; the people you can trust are not more than six,” he said when he appeared on Channels Television Politics Today programme on Wednesday to discuss current political happenings in the country.
On the two-day exercise that has screened the likes of former governors Nyesom Wike, Nasir El-Rufai, and Dave Umahi, the presidential spokesman for Abubakar said the screening looked more like a comedy than a serious exercise in nation-building.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a legislative branch in this dispensation,” he said.
“The essence of the three branches of government is to exercise independence for the good of the country. The legislature is the core, equal branch with the executive.
“As a matter of fact, the very foundation of democracy started first with the legislature.”
He made reference to the early days of modern democracy in the U.S., where people, through their collective willpower, chose those who would govern them.
He questioned if the same legislative branch of government we have in Nigeria has the independence that is required for them to make laws and checkmate the excesses of the executive branch of government.
He also made reference to the Godwin Emefiele (former CBN governor) saga, where, as a law-making body, they should have called for a congressional hearing.
Furthermore, Bwala said, “Screening is supposed to be the period by which the legislative branch of government will inquire, scrutinise, and interrogate those people that will be conferred with the secrets and thoughts of the people.”
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He jokingly made reference to the unserious nature of the senators, especially when one of the senators claimed to have finished primary school at the age of 3.
He said that what he actually expected from the screening committee was to ask, “Was whether any of them have been investigated by any of the agencies?”
He referenced the U.S. again when he pointed out that the first question they ask ministerial nominees is if “they have the trust of the people?”
The other key things he mentioned were the character, fitness, and suitability of the nominees.
He insisted that the screening committee should have devoted more attention to scrutinising the nominees to find out if any of them had been found wanting for fraud or misappropriation of funds instead of focusing on the quality of their university degrees.
He stated that if past issues of fraud are not addressed by the legislature in terms of inquiry, they can in the future if confirmed be a torn on the flesh of the administration.
