EFCC begins probe of ministerial nominees

EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will on Monday
begin investigations into petitions written against President
Muhammadu Buhari’s 21 ministerial nominees, SUNDAY PUNCH
has learnt.
It was gathered that a decision was taken by the leadership of
the anti-graft agency last week to start the process of
considering petitions forwarded to the National Assembly
against the ministerial nominees.
The PUNCH had on Friday reported that 25 petitions had been
submitted against the nominees at the Senate.
Copies of such petitions were also said to have been sent to the
EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related
Offences Commission.
A source privy to the development, who spoke to SUNDAY
PUNCH on condition of anonymity, said the Senate leadership
had contacted the EFCC last week to assist in looking into the
petitions written against the ministerial nominees.
The source who is a top official at the EFCC said, “The office
would start looking into the petitions written against the
ministerial nominees on Monday.
“The National Assembly contacted the commission on the issue
and the decision is to start looking at such petitions on
Monday.”
Similarly, an operative of the ICPC, who also spoke on condition
of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the press
on the matter, said on Saturday that the commission was
expecting an invitation from the National Assembly leadership
to commence investigation into the allegations contained in the
petition against the nominees.
The source said it was not possible for the National Assembly to
carry out the investigation into the petitions against the
nominees without involving the anti-graft agencies.
“It is true that the agency is expecting to be involved in the
investigation of the allegations contained in the petitions against
the nominees.
“The National Assembly also said it clearly that they were going
to involve the anti-graft agencies in the issue of investigating the
petition.
“For now, what is not very clear is to what extent they intend to
involve the anti-graft agencies.” the source added.
The spokesperson of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said he did
not know anything about the commission’s involvement in the
screening exercise at the National Assembly.
Also, the Resident Consultant, Media and Events, of the ICPC,
Mr. Folu Olamiti, said he would neither confirm nor deny the
involvement of the commission in the investigation of the
allegations contained in the petitions.
Similarly, the Code of Conduct Bureau had also said the
nominees were bound to declare their assets before the Senate.
The Senate had stated that as part of its guidelines for screening
the ministerial nominees due to commence on Tuesday, each of
the nominees would be required to produce evidence of assets
declaration to the bureau.
The Chairman of the CCB, Mr. Sam Saba, in his response to our
correspondent’s enquiry through a text message on Saturday,
said the ministerial nominees were required under Section 149 of
the Constitution to declare their assets before being screened.
He said, “It is the usual procedure — or as you put it, the
convention — for ministerial nominees to declare their assets
before senate screening; and not only ministers but any would-
be public officer, whether appointed or elected, so long as he or
she requires screening by the Senate.
“Section 149 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria (as amended) provides that ‘the Minister of the
Government of the Federation shall not enter upon the duties of
his office, unless he has declared his assets as prescribed in the
Constitution’.”
Saba could not confirm whether any of the nominees had
initiated steps to declare their assets before the close of work
on Friday, but he hinted that in the past, the Presidential Liaison
Officer would usually collect the assets declaration forms from
the bureau in bulk and distribute to the nominees.
He said, “The bureau would attend to the ministerial nominees
on demand of the Form CCB1 from any of our offices in the 36
states plus the office in the Federal Capital Territory and in the
Headquarters, Abuja. The forms are however submitted at the
headquarters Abuja.
“In the recent, Presidential Liaison Officers collected the forms
for such nominees; that is to say, request is made in bulk by the
PLO for the forms and issued out individually to each ministerial
nominee.”
When contacted, the Special Assistant to the President on
National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang said, “I did not
collect forms on behalf of anyone. The fact that your name is
submitted (as a nominee) does not mean you are appointed.”
The leadership of the Senate will meet on Monday to review the
modalities and procedures for the three-day screening of
ministerial nominees scheduled to begin on Tuesday.
Part of the conditions earlier agreed upon by the Senate in a
closed-session on Thursday, included, among others, the
submission of assets declaration proofs; approval of
nominations by at least two senators from nominee’s states;
while those who have petitions against them must have a clean
bill of health from the Senate’s public petitions committee.
Our correspondent learnt on Saturday that the criticisms that
greeted the Senate’s procedure for the screening made it to start
making moves to review the modalities.
A principal officer of the Senate, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, told SUNDAY PUNCH that wide consultations had
been carried out among various segments of the society to get
their input on how best the Senate can carry out the
assignment.
He explained that the various inputs by Nigerians would be
collated latest on Monday morning and presented before the
leadership of the Senate, who would review it and make their
final decision known to their colleagues before the screening
would start on Tuesday.
The source said, “We are not claiming that we know it all in the
Senate. Although we are the representatives of the people, we
should not impose our decisions on people without finding out
their opinions.
“The leadership of the Eighth Senate had vowed to carry
everybody along in its decision-making (process) and that is
why we have consulting widely because we would not want to
be accused of witch-hunting any nominee or that we are using
the screening to hit back at the presidency.”
The Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, told our correspondent that the
Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, had been seeking the
views of Nigerians, especially the media and other pressure
groups, on the screening modalities adopted by the red
chamber.
Olaniyonu said, “The media, the civil society organisations and
other pressure groups are very critical to national development.
Their views are therefore needed as a necessary guide to assist
the Senate in the discharge of its responsibility, especially as far
as the screening of ministerial nominees is concerned. “
Efforts to speak to the Chairman, Senate Ad Hoc Committee on
Media and Publicity, Senator Dino Melaye, on the issue were
futile on Saturday, as calls and text message put across to his
mobile phone number were not responded to as of the time of
filing this report.
The Special Assistant to the Senate President on New Media,
Mr. Bankole Omishore, in a statement on Saturday, also
confirmed that the screening and confirmation process of the
first batch of ministerial nominees would be streamed live on the
National Assembly website.
According to him, the websites, www.nass.gov.ng and
www.senate.gov.ng, could be used by Nigerians to send in
questions they would like to ask nominees by forwarding same
to their respective senators using the hashtag
#MinisterialScreening.
Omishore added that all questions must be received before 5pm
on Monday.
The statement read in parts, “The @NGRSenate Twitter handle
will also be providing live tweets throughout the screening
process.
“Nigerians would recall that the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar
Bukola Saraki, took office amidst a pledge to reform the Senate
and make its processes more transparent, inclusive and visible
by employing e-Parliamentary technology in the Upper
Chambers.
“Since then, the Senate President has tasked the Committee on
Rules and Business to develop an e-Parliamentary system that
can be employed at Senate Plenary sessions.
“This screening will create an avenue for Nigerians from all
works of life to partake in governance, as the bridge between
representatives and constituents will be bridged; with senators
asking questions sourced from Nigerians on Social Media.”
In addition, Omishore explained that the submitted resumes of
candidates will be made available in the public space for
Nigerians to examine.
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