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The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has lashed out at the Senate over what it termed the trivialisation of the ambassadorial screening process.
This follows the decision of the Red Chamber to allow several high-profile nominees, including Femi Fani-Kayode, Reno Omokri and Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to simply ‘take a bow and go’ during Thursday’s session.
The party’s spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, stated that the Senate’s handling of the exercise undermined the seriousness expected when selecting individuals who will represent Nigeria internationally.
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“We are not surprised, but we are disappointed that a process as serious as screening those who will represent Nigeria abroad has been reduced to something so trivial,” Abdullahi said.
According to him, the Senate’s approach suggested a preference for political convenience over national credibility, warning that some of the nominees might not scale through if subjected to stricter diplomatic scrutiny in other countries.
“If posted to serious countries, many of these people would be rejected,” he added.
There was anger on the floor of the Senate Wednesday as Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) led many other lawmakers in protesting against what they described as uneven implementation of President Bola Tinubu’s directive for withdrawal of police orderlies from Very Important Persons, VIPs, in the country.
This was even as they sought for exemption of lawmakers from the directive as being enjoyed by the President, Vice President, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, state governors and their deputies, among others, warning that lawmakers should not be used as scapegoats.
President Tinubu had recently ordered the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to withdraw police personnel providing security for VIPs amid escalating security challenges in the country.
He also directed police authorities to redeploy the orderlies to concentrate on their core duties, a move that mandated the Special Protection Unit, SPU, of the Nigeria Police Force to order all officers attached to VIPs and beats nationwide to return to their bases.
Ningi, however, raised complaints and concerns about the implementation of the presidential directive in a motion brought through Point of Order, lamenting that the only police orderly he has was withdrawn in the early hours of Wednesday while some other VIPs in the country are still enjoying the privilege.
