The Presidency has declared that the special privilege which the Senate accorded some ministerial nominees in the ongoing screening is in line with global parliamentary tradition.
The Senate did not grill former Federal and State lawmakers, female nominees and individuals that are leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, who spoke on the issue said the red chamber had done nothing wrong by adopting such practice.
Speaking with reporters, Enang, a member of the National Assembly from 1999 to 2015, agreed with the decision of Senate President Ahmed Lawan.
“For anyone to qualify to be appointed as a minister, they must be qualified to be a member of the House of Representatives. So, it is taken that you are qualified and had already been screened.
“For you to have been a member of the House of Representatives or a Senator, it is taken that you are the person who earlier screened and passed other people. Therefore, having been a member of the institution, you are deemed to have gone through all the tests.
“Unless there is something which has arisen after your tenure can be seen and questioned, only then can any questions arise. That is even not a matter for the Senate; it is a matter which only the security agencies can say something about.
“So, the Senate is right in saying that if you were a member of the Senate and a member of the House of Representatives, you are deemed to be qualified and nothing has happened to demean that.
“It is a tradition that started in the United Kingdom and United States parliament and has become a parliamentary tradition everywhere.”
