By Olanrewaju Oyedeji
‘To be or not to be?’ An air of anxiety and expectation is in the air today as the Senate resumes the screening of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees today.
Expectedly, the appearance before the upper house of former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, is dominating the discussions on social media, the formal media and the extended public space.
The main cause of the anxiety stems from the petitions raised over the suitability of Amaechi for the job of minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria given the numerous allegations of corruption and poor governance in his immediate past public assignment.
Underscoring this anxiety is the fact that a panel of enquiry in Rivers State has presently confirmed some of the allegations and ruled that the former Governor is guilty. The panel , which sat in Port Harcourt, was at the behest of the Rivers State Government, whose present principal, Nyesom Wike has been having a running battle with Amaechi for over two years now.
That confirmation has also gotten the official seal of the current government of Rivers State which has promptly issued a White Paper affirming the bulk of the conclusions of the panel and ordered that Amaechi and several others refund some N53billion and face prosecution also.
At the commencement of the screenings last week, APC Spokesman, Lai Mohammed, former Governors, Ogbonnaya Onu, Babatunde Fashola and Kayode Fayemi were successfully screened and cleared. Others included Senators Chris Ngige and Udo Udoma, former MDGs adviser, Amina Mohammed and former Chief of Army Staff, Abdurahman Dambazau.
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