Ministerial Nominees: Senate confirms Wike, Keyamo, Adelabu as ministers, refuses to clear three others

The Senate on Monday confirmed 45 of the 48 ministerial nominees sent to it by President Bola Tinubu.

It, however, deferred the confirmation of three nominees who it said are awaiting security clearance.

Those affected are the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, a former senator from Taraba, Sani Danladi, and a nominee from Delta State, Stella Okotete.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the confirmation of the nominees after they were cleared by a voice vote by the senators at the plenary.

The senators had cleared the nominees by voice vote at the Committee of the Whole when Mr Akpabio read out their names one after the other.

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After that, the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, moved a motion for the Senate to revert to the plenary to report progress. The Minority Leader, Simon Mwadkwom, seconded the motion.

Earlier, the upper legislative chamber screened the last two nominees – Mariya Mahmoud (Kano) and Festus Keyamo (Delta) at the Committee of the Whole presided over by Mr Akpabio.

The president nominated both Mr Keyamo and Mrs Mahmoud on Friday.

The Senate had previously screened 46 nominees between Monday and Saturday last week.

President Tinubu transmitted the names of the nominees in three separate correspondences to the upper house of the National Assembly on 28 July, 3 August and 4 August.

In the 4 August letter, the president informed the legislature that he had withdrawn one of the nominees from Kano, Maryam Shetty, and replaced her with Mrs Mahmoud.

Below are the nominees confirmed:

South-South Zone – 7 nominees

1. Ekperikpe Ekpo (Akwa Ibom)

2. Heineken Lokpobiri (Bayelsa)

3. Betta Edu (Cross River)

4. John Enoh (Cross River)

5. Festus Keyamo (Delta)

6. Abubakar Momoh (Edo)

7. Nyesom Wike (Rivers)

South East Zone — 5

8. Nkiru Onyejiocha (Abia)

9. Uju Ohaneye (Anambra)

10. David Umahi (Ebonyi)

11. Uche Nnaji (Enugu)

12. Doris Uzoka (Imo)

South West Zone — 9

13. Dele Alake (Ekiti)

14. Tunji Alausa (Lagos)

15. Lola Ade John (Lagos)

16. Ishak Salako (Ogun)

17. Bosun Tijjani (Ogun)

18. Olawale Edun (Ogun)

19. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo (Ondo)

20. Adegboyega Oyetola (Osun)

21. Adebayo Adelabu (Oyo)

North East Zone — 7

22. Tahir Mamman (Adamawa)

23. Yusuf M Tuggar (Bauchi)

24. Ali Pate (Bauchi)

25. Abubakar Kyari (Borno)

26. Alkali Ahmed Saidu (Gombe)

27. Uba Maigari Ahmadu (Taraba)

28. Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe)

North West Zone — 9

29. Mohammed Badaru (Jigawa)

30. Maryam Mairiga Mahmoud (Kano)

31. Abdullahi T Gwarzo (Kano)

32. Ahmad Dangiwa (Katsina)

33. Hanatu Musawa (Katsina)

34. Yusuf Tanko Sununu (Kebbi)

35. Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi)

36. Bello M Goronyo (Sokoto)

37. Bello Matawalle (Zamfara)

North Central Zone — 8

38. Joseph Utsev (Benue)

39. Zephaniah Bitrus Jisalo (FCT)

40. Shuaibu A Audu (Kogi)

41. Lateef Fagbemi (Kwara)

42. Imaan S-Ibrahim (Nasarawa)

43. Mohammed Idris (Niger)

44. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (Niger)

45. Simon Lalong (Plateau)