Amaechi Finally Screened As PDP Senators Refuse To Ask Questions

As expected, the screening of the ministerial nominee from River State
and former governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi on Thursday, generated
controversy among senators over whether he should be allowed to answer
questions or not.

Amaechi was the first nominee to be invited into the Senate chamber
after being denied the opportunity thrice as a result of a petition
against him over alleged corruption.

The Senator Samuel Anyanwu-led Committee on Ethics, Privileges and
Petitions submitted the report of the petition against Amaechi before
the commencement of the ministerial screening.

In his opening remarks, Amaechi greeted the senators and gave special
recognition to senators from Rivers State.

He spoke on his political antecedents as Speaker and later Governor of
Rivers State for eight years each, touching on his achievements in
education, health, roads and public accountability among others.

"We refined governance and repositioned leadership under my tenure as
governor", he said.

When it was time to ask questions, the Minority Leader, Senator
Godswill Akpabio, raised a point of order, saying the PDP caucus in
the Senate agreed not to ask Amaechi any question as a result of the
petitions pending against his nomination.

This position was however, rejected by the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume,
who guided the Senate as its Leader.

Ndume also asked the Senate to permit the nominee to take a bow and go
as a former member of the legislature, adding that Mr. Amaechi can be
screened without debating the report of the committee on ethics.

The Senate leader's reference to the PDP caucus as "you people", in
reference to their refusal to ask the ex-Rivers governor any question,
however, did not go down well and he was forced to apologize and
withdraw the comment.

After responding to questions from about eight All Progressives
Congress senators for about 50 minutes, the ministerial nominee was
finally allowed to take his leave.

As at the time of publishing this report, the ministerial nominee from
Bayelsa State, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri was being called into the
Senate chambers for his screening.

-InformationNigeria