Senators threaten to resign from Jubril Aminu’s committee - Over refusal to clear Marwa, Nwite as ambassadors

Soji-Eze Fagbemi and Taiwo Adisa, Abuja - 28.01.2008

THE Senate is now set to clear the former governor of Lagos State, Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa, and a former governorship candidate in Ebonyi State, Senator Polycarp Nwite, as indications emerged weekend that the Senate leadership had resolved to dump the report of the Senator Jubril Aminu led Foreign Affairs Committee which had been discredited by the senators.

Also, members of the Foreign Affairs Committee have threatened to resign their membership of the committee over the insistence of Senator Aminu to ensure that Brigadier General Marwa’s nomination by President Umaru Yar’Adua is not approved due to what they described as “local politics” rather than the much touted security report.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the Senate leadership might resort to the committee of the whole house on Tuesday to debate the issue of the clearance of Marwa and Nwite, following the controversy generated by the committee’s report and the threat by the committee’s members to resign their membership “rather than being discredited because of one senator’s hatred for his kinsman.”

A competent source told the Nigerian Tribune that the Senate would likely throw the issue for discussion on the floor on Tuesday if the committee chairman and his members refused to agree on the decision they all arrived at during the screening of the nominees by the committee, because the Senate was being discredited by the development.

The report generated a lot of furore last week at the Senate chamber when Senator Aminu presented it, and cleared the former Minister of Aviation, Dr. Kema Chikwe, and left Marwa and Nwite.

Members of the committee at the sitting, which included Senators Victor Ndoma-Egba, Bob Effiong, Bode Olajumoke, Zainab Kure, Felix Bajomo and Osita Izunazo, dissociated themselves from the report, while other senators who commented on the controversy called for the dissolution of the committee.

However, three members of the committee who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity said none of the other members signed the report, which was presented to the Senate by Senator Aminu, stressing that they would not allow themselves to be used to settle local political scores.

They said that none of them saw the report presented by the chairman, while it did not reflect the decision reached after the screening of the nominees.

They said the report was signed only by Senator Aminu and the secretary of the committee, who is not a senator, and added that they would prefer to resign rather than be used to deny any Nigerian what he deserved due to pure local politics

When the Nigerian Tribune asked one of the senators for the reasons behind Senator Aminu’s position, he simply said: “local politics. Jubril does not want Marwa and we don’t know why.”

On the rumour that some individuals would blackmail Marwa when the debate resumed on Tuesday, the senator said that this would amount to playing to the gallery as Marwa had earlier been cleared to run for the presidency.

“The issue of security report is just an excuse. Those of us who are members have not seen the report he was talking about. What kind of security report would now stop someone who had been cleared to run for president of the country from being cleared for an ambassadorial position?

“Marwa was cleared and ran for the presidency during the PDP presidential primary. So, tell me the genuineness of such security report. Besides, the Supreme Court had settled this as it declared that only convictions can stop anyone from being confirmed into public office,” he said.

He said the members of the committee could not understand why Senator Aminu was kicking against Marwa’s confirmation and appointment, when the two of them are from Adamawa State, saying that they were all aware that the senator had described Marwa as the only credible, experienced and trusted person in the race for president of Nigeria during the former governor’s declaration for presidency in Adamawa before the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary.

The senators also frowned on the declaration by the Senate President, David Mark, during the last sitting that the security report must be made public and that any of the nominees who did not want the security details made public could withdraw his nomination, describing it as a subtle blackmail.

Though, they pointed out that they were not against the report being made public, if there is any, but said the call on the nominees to withdraw could be seen as a way of blackmailing the nominees to withdraw.

The statement, according to a source, was a double standard by the Senate President, who had told the Senate last year when the committee’s report was first presented to the Senate sitting and four of them, including the former Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankaso, was not cleared due to the said security report, that the issue would be thrown to the whole house for confirmation.

The Senate President had also said at that time that the legislative arm had no right to stop the appointment of anybody into public office by the executive on the ground of security report, adding that the decision rests on the executive.

He said that the confirmation would be done by all senators at the chamber and advised his colleagues to ensure their confirmation and leave the executive to do its work.