By Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan
See the chess game that the administration has been playing with the appointment of the permanent acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu – not in a banana Republic but in 21st century Republic of Nigeria! It is a crying shame. Magus’ case is simply akin to that of an unelected President, ruling the country forever. True, the President is human, after all. He cannot always escape those profound moments when he has a favored candidate and the Senate has one reason or another for not confirming the nomination. Under no circumstance can the President resort to illegality. His predecessors who were faced with such circumstances had a better way out. We remember former President Olusegun Obasanjo who once nominated Prof Babalola Aborisade (1946 – 2017) for a ministerial appointment. The candidate was rejected by the Senate. Obasanjo kept re-nominating him as many times as he was rejected by the Senate.
Point of order, Mr. President. The best time to raise a point of order on a speaker is when he is yet speaking – not after he is done. That makes this beginning of a new year the most appropriate time for this introspection.
There is no mistaking the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari has improved tremendously on his management style latterly. That justifies our having to point out a few of his miss-steps.
We are not here to examine the Executive appointments so far made by the President. Rather, we shall look briefly at the process of making some of the appointments. Evidently, this born-again President is neither a Military Dictator nor a Sole Administrator.
He knows more than that. What he could attempt to feign ignorance of is the obvious fact that there is a democratic process of filling the vacancies that arise in government as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.
We are here talking of the appointment of Ministers, Ambassadors, Members of Statutory Boards, Commissions, other Executive Bodies, etc. for want of a better expression, we have lumped these in the category of Executive appointments.
These appointments are made by the President subject to the confirmation of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is no short-cut to this process – no Senate confirmation, no appointment!
It is instructive that this is an issue to which this writer has been sentimentally attached over time and he has held strong views on it. At the Constituent Assembly of the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida year, it was this writer that moved the motion that brought the matter back into the Constitution.
Clearly, the military junta of that time was already preparing grounds to transform itself from khaki to agbada. They required a soft – landing, so to say. The report we had from the Constitution Drafting Committee was for the President to appoint “in consultation with the Senate.”
At my instance, it was changed to the President shall appoint them “after the confirmation by the Senate.” This requirement finds its classic expression in various parts of the 1999 Constitution.
This is one area where the Buhari administration has been less than transparent.
See the chess game that the administration has been playing with the appointment of the permanent acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu – not in a banana Republic but in 21st century Republic of Nigeria! It is a crying shame. Magus’ case is simply akin to that of an unelected President, ruling the country forever.
True, the President is human, after all. He cannot always escape those profound moments when he has a favored candidate and the Senate has one reason or another for not confirming the nomination. Under no circumstance can the President resort to illegality. His predecessors who were faced with such circumstances had a better way out.
We remember former President Olusegun Obasanjo who once nominated Prof Babalola Aborisade (1946 – 2017) for a ministerial appointment. The candidate was rejected by the Senate. Obasanjo kept re-nominating him as many times as he was rejected by the Senate.
It was around the fifth re-nomination that Aborisade was finally passed by the Senate, albeit reluctantly. Then and only then was Aborisade sworn-in as minister.
Apparently, Magu is one mistake already carried too far. However, Alfred Lord Tennyson (1806-1892) is right, “It is never too late to seek a newer world. Though we are not that power which in the olden days moved heaven and earth; yet what we are we are.”
It is not too late to polis up Magu’s papers and forward then to a friendlier 9th Senate for amendatory approval. We owe it to history to legalize the appointment of a man that is doing so well.
There is another tricky side to the Senate confirmation process, which is equally important. The President must have a clear understanding of the candidate he is nominating for Executive appointment. What this means is that the presidency must do a thorough background check of the candidates. Once they are presented, the presidency has a moral responsibility to stand by them – as Obasanjo did with Aborisade.
If new information emerges, however, they can withdraw any nomination before it is reported out of the Senate Committee. Once a confirmation is reported out of the Senate Committee and approved by the Senate, the President can no longer withdraw the nomination.
Put differently, a nomination for an Executive appointment that has been cleared by the Senate cannot be withdrawn. Such must be sworn-in or inaugurated!
Of course, the appointee could have his say, the President always has his way. The appointee must be sworn-in and the Board must be inaugurated. On the President’s part, the morning after, he could begin to shop around for reasons to dissolve the Board or sack the individual appointees.
The Senate Advice and Consent procedure bears close relationship with an Executive Bill, which once reported out of the Committee of the National Assembly cannot be withdrawn by the President.
In the case of a Bill, though, the President can lay an ambush at the point of assent by vetoing the Bill. Except the National assembly over-rides his veto, the Bill is as dead as the dodo.
There is no escaping the inevitable conclusion that adherence to some of these simple rules would make a good government better. After all, it is not every issue that should be allowed to blossom to the level of Judicial Review. We must, therefore, not wait for issues to get to the courtrooms before doing the right.
Here’s wishing everyone and our esteemed readers the very best in the New Year.
Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan is a public affairs analyst and former Chairman, Board of Directors, Edo Broadcasting Service. He can be reached at: joligien@yahoo.com
