Trouble Not Over For Amaechi

 The ministerial screening of the former Rivers State Governor, Mr Chibuike Amaechi, may take place on Tuesday, as the committee on Ethics Privileges and Public Petitions plans to submit its report to the Senate at the resumption of plenary.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, told reporters at the end of the committee’s meeting on Monday that the report of the petition against the nomination of Mr Amaechi would be submitted at plenary.

Mr Amaechi was billed to be screened last week but the Senate could not proceed with his screening, as the committee could not submit its report.

For two days last week, the attention of Nigerians was fixed on the National Assembly, as the Senate began the screening of ministerial nominees.

The Senate finally screened and confirmed 18 ministerial nominees and resolved to continue with the screening this week.

The nomination of the former Governor of Rivers State, Mr Amaechi, has been enmeshed in controversy.

Mr Amaechi has a petition filed against him by a group in Rivers State over allegations of corruption and criminal breach of trust.

The Senate forwarded the petition to its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition to investigate and report back to the Senate before Mr Amaechi would be screened.

However, the committee was unable to present the report to the Senate last week and this stalled the screening of the former Governor of Rivers State.

Underground bickering and rumours of a division among the Senators over the screening of Mr Amaechi notwithstanding, the chairman of the committee said the report would be submitted on the floor of the Senate.

A federal lawmaker, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, said the Senate would not allow political sentiments interfere with the screening of Mr Amaechi.

While the committee is set to present the report on the petition against the former River State Governor, it began its investigation on a petition against another ministerial nominee, Aisha Abubakar from Sokoto State.

A coalition of women from Sokoto State had written to the Senate, asking that Abubakar’s nomination be rejected because she was ‘not known’ to the people of the state.

But the committee members said the petition was defective because it was not properly addressed to the Senate.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, said the committee would still report its findings on the petition to the Senate