Opposition against the screening and confirmation of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro as a minister has gathered momentum in the Senate.
Two petitions, dated February 12 and February 17 respectively, have been forwarded to Senate President, David Mark, against his nomination by President Goodluck Jonathan to represent Lagos State in the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Regardless, Senate has shifted the screening and confirmation of eight ministerial nominees till Tuesday next week.
Before commencement of plenary yesterday, all the ministerial nominees, including Senators Obanikoro, Patricia Akwashiki and Joel Danlami Ikenya, were already in the White House premises of the Senate awaiting the screening.
Obanikoro, a former Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, came with his family, friends and loyalists.
Few minutes before plenary, however, reports emerged that the exercise had been shifted.
Speaking after plenary, spokesperson of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Babafemi Ojudu, said there were two petitions against Obanikoro’s nomination. The petitions, he said, had been forwarded to Mark.
The petition of Thursday, February 12, which was routed through Senators Ojudu and Gbenga Ashafa, highlighted Obanikoro’s alleged role in the June 2014 Ekiti governorship poll and use of armed soldiers to stop the Ilubirin Housing Project in Lagos, among others.
All three APC senators from Lagos State – Ashafa, Oluremi Tinubu and Ganiyu Solomon- filed the petition to the Senate President seeking to stop Obanikoro from becoming minister.
Ojudu also contended that since there was a suit against Obanikoro in a Lagos court, it would be prejudicial for the Senate to screen and confirm him alongside other ministerial nominees.
His words: “There’s a court case against Obanikoro in court in Lagos and that case is coming up for hearing on March 6. Should the Senate go ahead to screen Obanikoro next Tuesday, it means the Senate has prejudiced the case. That would be illegal because the tradition and the rule is that if there’s a case before the court, the matter should not be entertained.
“This case is already before the judiciary and it has to do with whether he’s a fit and proper person, whether he’s qualified to hold public office. Even the case of whether he has dual citizenship is not for the Senate to determine. Bedsides, this case is not even about that. Whatever the matter is, there’s a subsisting case against Obanikoro before the court. There’s a case before the law courts; until that case is dispensed with, nothing can be done in the Senate.”
Asked what could be the result if the Senate went ahead to screen and confirm Obanikoro, Ojudu replied: “That would be contempt of court but what I like about the Senate president is that over time, he has been just and fair and we believe that when this comes to his notice too, he would be just and fair. I believe the Senate president would not want to do anything against the judiciary.”
Obanikoro, Senate sources say, have begun lobbying members of the Upper House to ensure his nomination scales through.
