The Senate yesterday confirmed the nominations of former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin (rtd); former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen., Tukur Buratai (rtd) as well as his Navy and Air Force counterparts, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas (rtd) and Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar (rtd), along with a former Chief of Defence Intelligence, Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Usman (rtd), as non-career ambassadors.

However, there was a mild drama at the Senate plenary as Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, kicked against the confirmation.

He had queried the non-consideration of the petition that was written against the nominees by the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs during the screening of the nominees.

The confirmation was a sequel to the consideration of the report of the Senator Mohammed Bulkachuwa-led Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, which screened the five nominees.

President Muhammadu Buhari, in a letter to the Senate and read at plenary on February 10 by President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, had sought the consent of the Senate chamber to appoint the former service chiefs as non-career ambassadors.

The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs was thereafter given two weeks to screen the nominees and report back to plenary.

Presenting the report, Bulkachuwa said the nominations of the former service chiefs were in line with section 171 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

Bulkachuwa, however, said the committee received petitions against their nominations but the petitions were dismissed.

The senator, while urging his colleagues to confirm the nominees said they were knowledgeable and articulate in their responses to the questions directed at them.

Soon after the report was laid, Abaribe raised a point of order and drew the attention of his colleagues to a petition against their confirmation.

Abaribe had asked Bulkachuwa to explain why the petitions against the former service chiefs were dismissed.

He said:

I’m looking at page three and I want the chairman to give us some little explanations. On the petitions from two persons, the first petition from a guy called Dickson, that the committee would have given us a little inclining on the petition and the reason why it was dismissed. That first petition borders on the integrity of the Senate.

That this Senate took a resolution that these men should be removed as heads of the security apparatus in Nigeria and three times we took that decision here. For this same people to be brought back to us to be confirmed for another appointment, the Senate is under obligation to look at the resolution they had taken before going ahead.

Intervening, Lawan dismissed Abaribe’s position, saying that the petition lacked merit.

According to him, the former service chiefs were nominated as ambassadors and not as service chiefs hence the petition is different from what they are nominated for.

The nominees were thereafter confirmed after a motion to that effect was moved by the Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, and seconded by Abaribe.

House Approves New Military Top Brass

In another development, the House of Representatives at the plenary yesterday confirmed the president’s nominees for the headship of the military.

The service chiefs approved by awaiting Senate’s concurrence are Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor; Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru; Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Awaal Gambo; and Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Isiaka Amao.

The confirmation followed a unanimous adoption of the report laid by the chairman of the screening committee set up to screen them.

The Chairman of the committee, Hon. Babajimi Benson, said the nominees were thoroughly screened by the lawmakers.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.