ABUJA, Nigeria: APC Senators Resolve to Back Amaechi During Screening

The Senate caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) rose from its meeting last night and resolved to back the immediate past governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi, when he appears before the Senate for his screening and confirmation as a minister.

Senators on the platform of the APC met at 7.40 pm in the National Assembly, where it was unanimously agreed to back Amaechi’s ministerial nomination and use their slim majority to outvote their colleagues from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the event of a division in the Senate.

Speaking on the outcome of the caucus meeting, an APC senator who preferred anonymity, said: “We are determined not to allow the PDP stop the confirmation of Amaechi. We are determined to ensure that he is confirmed because there is no reason for him not to be confirmed.

“Ameachi contributed a lot to the evolution of APC. He suffered a lot in the hands of former President Goodluck Jonathan. Wike wants to continue and we will not allow it.

“Given the way people have been mounting pressure on us, the public is in support of Amaechi; even outside the country, people are in support of him.

“We are united on this matter in the APC caucus. We are members of the same party. When it comes to fighting a common enemy, we are always united.”

Amaechi was nominated minister by President Muhammadu Buhari on September 30, but unlike others who were nominated alongside him, his screening was deferred twice last week by the Senate which has been awaiting the report of its Ethic and Privileges Committee on the petition sent to the upper chamber against the former governor.

A non-governmental organisation based in Rivers State, The Integrity Group, had written a petition to the Senate on the former governor, stating that its main objective was to fight corruption and ensure that corrupt persons are brought to justice and stolen monies simultaneously recovered.

Providing details on the misuse of state resources, the petitioners alleged that Amaechi presided over the fraudulent sale of state power projects secretly without advertising them in accordance with the policy of public procurement as well as the conversion of $302 million proceeds of the sale to N60.480 billion without remitting it to state coffers.

According to them, Amaechi secretly sold the four power plants belonging to Rivers State - Onne, Afam, Eleme and Trans-Amadi - to his choice buyer whom they said made the payment in dollars into the state's assets sales' account.

They added that Amaechi later ordered the payment made in dollars to be diverted to some of his choice bureau de change company accounts.

On getting the petition, it was sent to the committee to investigate and revert to the Senate as a whole on its findings to determine if Amaechi will be screened or not.

But THISDAY learnt that despite the position of the committee last week that Amaechi had gone to court challenging the validity of the petition, thereby rendering the matter sub-judicial, the committee was unlikely to recommend the ex-governor for screening.

If however the recommendation of the committee is ignored by the Senate, and it decides to screen him, Amaechi’s screening would most likely take place tomorrow in order to ward off the likelihood of a division in the chamber or any fracas that could lead to a delay in the screening of other ministerial nominees.

A source close to the committee told THISDAY in confidence that since Amaechi had already told the committee last week Monday that the matter contained in the petition was already before a law court, the committee would be left with no option than to advise the Senate not to consider him for screening in accordance with the provision of the Senate Standing Rules.

Section 53(5) of Senate Standing Orders provides that reference should not be made to any matter that is before the judiciary. Accordingly, when Amaechi told the committee last week that the matter contained in the petition was already sub-judice, the committee immediately announced its withdrawal from its investigation.

The source told THISDAY that the same way the committee was forced to hands off investigating the petition because it was before a law court is also the same way it would have no option than to recommend to the Senate to steer clear of his screening.

The source said: “The committee will recommend that since the matter is before a court of law, Amaechi should not be screened. If the Senate wants to, it can go ahead to screen him but that’s what the committee will recommend,” the source said.
Yet, a committee's recommendation is not necessarily binding. It is subject to intense debate among members after which the Senate will arrive at a resolution by a simple majority through a voice vote.

If the recommendation is adopted by a simple majority, it will be binding, but if rejected, it will be thrown out.
It is on this basis that Senate President Bukola Saraki may deem it necessary to defer Amaechi’s screening till tomorrow, explained the source.

He said the rational is to ensure that other ministerial nominees who have no issues are screened without incident before the chamber addresses Amaechi’s screening tomorrow, as it is likely to be contentious given the divisions between senators from the ruling APC and their counterparts in the PDP on his nomination as a minister.

The source further confirmed that Amaechi was not unaware of the position of the PDP senators and by yesterday had started making phone calls to them to support his nomination.
This is a departure from the last two weeks during which the former governor had limited his lobbying to just the Senate president, said the source.
The committee, nonetheless, yesterday rejected the petition by a women’s group in Sokoto State seeking to stop the ministerial nominee from the state, Aisha Abubakar, from being screened and confirmed by the Senate.

The committee threw out the petition on the grounds that it was not properly addressed to the Senate having been originally addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari and only copied to the Senate.

The committee said since the nominee had not breached any constitutional provision, the petition “was dead on arrival”.
The petitioners had alleged that Ms. Abubakar was not a member of the APC in the state neither had she made any contribution to the party in Sokoto State.

Source: Thisday