Ministerial screening: Buhari won’t beg Senate to favour nominees –APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that President Muhammadu Buhari will not spare any of the min¬isterial nominees found guilty of cor¬ruption, including former governors of Rivers and Lagos states, Rotimi Ame¬achi and Babatunde Raji Fashola.
This was coming as the Rivers State chapter of the ruling party, at the weekend, ap¬pealed to the Senate to give Amaechi and a few others special considerations when the screening of nominees begins tomorrow.
The two former governors who have been accused of involvement in corrup¬tion are among the 21 ministerial nomi¬nees billed for screening this week by the Senate.
Speaking with journalists in Abu¬ja, APC Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Lawan Shuaibu, said if any of the nominees are convicted of corruption by the courts, the president would not intervene.
“You see the president has said sev¬eral times that he believes in the rule of law. Anything that is not in line with the constitution and the extant laws of this country, he would go for it when it comes to the issue of the choice of people who will serve as ministers in his administration. I believe that until one is convicted in the law court, we will be chasing shadows on the basis of suspi¬cions and assumptions.
“If he decides to interpret the laws in the case of people facing investigation, I think he is quite free to go ahead with it. I think, quite frankly that he is not going to stop any investigations against any member of his cabinet. But should that investigation lead to conviction in courts, I assure you, even before Presi¬dent Buhari will ask them to resign, such a person would have brought for¬ward his/her letter of resignation.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State chap¬ter of the party at the weekend, made a strong case for Amaechi by appealing to the Senate to give him and former parliamentarians, special consideration during the screening exercise.
The party, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday by the state chair¬man, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, and signed by his Senior Special Assistant, Media and Public Affairs, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze appealed to the Red Chamber to ensure that Amaechi was among the few, who would be given special consideration, urging it not to totally discard the tradition, according to the former parliamentarians, of ‘take a bow and go treatment’.
In a related development, Sani Bature Gafai, an APC member in Katsina State has expressed sadness over the nomina¬tion of Senator Hadi Sirika as the state’s ministerial nominee.
In a statement at the weekend, Gafai faulted the nomination of Senator Sirika from Daura senatorial zone, noting that the President, Director General of State Security Services, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and the min¬isterial nominee are all from the same zone.” – The Sun.