The Senate has given President Muhammadu Buhari till Friday to submit the list of ministerial nominees for screening, failure of which the red chamber will proceed on its two-month annual recess.
In line with its annual calendar, the National Assembly is meant to go on its annual recess on July 26 and resume on September 26.
Buhari, who won election in February and was sworn in on May 29, has continued to delay the submission of the ministerial list, arguing that he will need to take his time to appoint the people he knows.
The Chairman, Senate ad hoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs Affairs, Senator Adedayo Adeyeye, in an exclusive interview with Sunday PUNCH on Saturday night, said the red chamber would proceed on its annual two-month recess this week if the Senate did not get the ministerial list by Friday.
He said, “If the list does not come before Friday, the Senate will proceed on its annual recess. We are not giving the president any ultimatum. The schedule of the Senate will go ahead if the Senate does not receive the list. The list is the only thing that can hold us back.”
Adeyeye said the President was at liberty to send the list whenever he pleased and that the Senate also had a duty to consider it in the overriding national interest.
He added, “However, any time they submit the list, we will consider it. It is not our responsibility to put pressure on the President. We can be recalled whenever the list is submitted even if we are already on recess, in the overriding national interest.’’
Corroborating this position, the Minority Leader of the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe, told Sunday PUNCH that the Senate would go on its annual recess on schedule.
Sunday PUNCH had asked him if the Senate would still postpone its annual recess despite the fact that the President had not submitted the ministerial nominees’ list.
Abaribe said, “The Senate will keep to its schedule.”
Findings by Sunday PUNCH revealed that the upper legislative chamber would require at least two weeks to screen the 36 ministerial nominees being expected from the President.
Meanwhile, investigations showed that members of the red chamber were divided over the proposal by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, that members might have to postpone their recess to treat Buhari’s lists.
ThePunch
