By Shola Abayomi.
A mild drama ensued at the ministerial screening today as the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, truncated attempts by lawmakers to grill the immediate past Minister of Transport, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.
The Senate President, who asked Amaechi to “take a bow”, rejected a notice by the Senate Minority Leader, Eyinnaya Abaribe who mentioned that senators from Rivers State had requested to question the former minister.
Lawan maintained that Amaechi, being a former Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, was a lawmaker, hence, should be excused from questioning.
Countering the Senate President’s assertion, Senator Danjuma Goje, who was a former minister argued that the Senate rules do not extend the “take a bow” privilege to state lawmakers.
Senator Goje added that he (Goje) was also a former state lawmaker but wasn’t given any concession by the Senate when he was screened as a minister.
In his response, the Senate President said, “I agree totally that it is not in our rules but we can regulate ourselves even without things in the rules. So, we adopt this because we should extend this privilege to the House of Assembly. I think there is nothing wrong in that. The nominee (Amaechi) is just a beneficiary by chance. We are not doing this for him.”