By John Alechenu, Abuja
The Senate has dismissed allegations that it collected a $10 million bribe to halt the screening and affirmation of President Bola Tinubu’s nominee for the place of Chief Government Officer of the Nigerian Electrical energy Regulatory Fee (NERC), Mr Abdullahi Garba Ramat.
A former Particular Adviser to ex-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Alwan Hassan, had alleged that the tenth Senate, beneath the management of Senator Godswill Akpabio, obtained the mentioned quantity to frustrate Ramat’s affirmation.
The Senate had earlier suspended the affirmation course of to permit for investigations into petitions filed towards the nominee by stakeholders and anxious members of the general public.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, dismissed the bribery allegation, describing it as baseless and unfounded.
Adaramodu, in a press release issued in Abuja late Friday, defined that the Senate determined to droop motion on the screening and affirmation of Abdullahi Garba Ramat resulting from “a baggage of private and non-private complaints towards his nomination.”
He recalled that there had been a number of situations the place nominees have been stepped down following public outcry, urging Nigerians to not be misled by false claims of bribery.
In response to the assertion:“The eye of the Senate has been drawn to the uncoordinated cacophony of 1 innocuous Alwan Hassan, who’s a hand-tool to Mr Abdullahi Garba Ramat. Refreshing the recollections of Nigerians, Mr Ramat is the yet-to-be-confirmed Chief Government of the Nigerian Electrical energy Regulatory Fee.
Mr Alwan has ludicrously alleged that the Senate was compromised by yet-to-be-disclosed ghosts to reject the nomination and affirmation of Mr Ramat.
For the unsuspecting public to not be persuaded by the satanic verses of this political feckless mercenary, the Senate needs to state that Mr Garba Ramat has a baggage of private and non-private complaints towards his nomination.
The Senate is statutorily certain to halt motion on any nominee beneath such public questioning. Many nominees have been stepped down resulting from comparable public outcry.
The case of Mr Ramat will not be an exception. Nobody can drag the establishment of the Nationwide Meeting into public opprobrium with unfounded allegations in an try to arm-twist the legislature. Nigerians deserve appointees who bear thorough screening, not those that search to bully their method by way of blackmail.
The Senate will have interaction Mr Alwan in court docket to offer Nigerians with proof of his assertions. The Senate is an establishment of noble Nigerians that respects the views, opinions, complaints, and compliments of residents by way of legislative oversight and different constitutional capabilities.
We have no idea, and had no prior encounter with, Mr Ramat till his nomination got here for screening. The Senate is, nonetheless, certain to take heed to and contemplate any points raised towards him by the folks he was nominated to serve.”
The put up Senate rejects $10m bribery allegation, explains delay in NERC nominee’s affirmation appeared first on Vanguard Information.
