Dramatic moments at Senate ministerial screening

It was meant to be a staid affair conducted by the dignified members of the Senate to screen the nominees for ministerial positions in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet, but it turned out many dramatic moments. I watched the screening exercise and one episode that stuck with me was the performance of the nominee from Benue State, a professor of engineering. He appeared flustered from the beginning and when subjected to questions from the senators on apparent discrepancies of dates in his CV he just fumbled. But the worst was to come when he muddled around to find an answer to how he would desilt River Benue to avoid the devastating seasonal flooding down the river.

He is a water engineer, and this is a major river that flows in his backyard, yet he could not give a satisfactory answer on how to rein in its excesses. He did not anticipate and thus did not prepare for questions about his claimed field of study and practice. When he was asked a question about how to deal with the drying of the two Nigerian ponds that constitute the Lake Chad, I guessed he would be out of his depth and would not attempt to answer it. He didn’t. From my perspective, that’s one minister that should give the Ministry of Water Resources a wide berth.

Many anticipated some drama when former governors, Nasir El-Rufa’i and Nyesom Wike appeared for screening. Both were highly-rated ministers in earlier administrations. El-Rufa’i left sterling records as FCT minister in the Obasanjo administration and Wike was outstanding as a minister of Education in the subsequent Jonathan administration. Both performed stupendously as governors lately – El-Rufa’i in Kaduna State and Wike in Rivers State. However, the two were earlier caught on tape categorically rejecting the idea of ever taking ministerial posts.

I have watched the two videos where Governor Wike said: “Only one person can be a minister from a state; I will not be a minister. I will not. Nobody can buy me; nobody. I am not going to go and look for a position at the federal level. Have I not been a minister before? So, what are you going to use to entice me as a person? Nothing.” I have also watched the videos where Governor El-Rufa’i said: “You became a minister at 43, and after 20 years, then you become a minister at 63? What of your children and younger brothers? Will they not become ministers? Is the position meant for you alone? I don’t like this. Let go of this topic.

“Thank God I was lucky that I became minister of Abuja when I was 43. Next year I will clock 63. Then I will go back. So, nobody among my younger brothers and children is capable of becoming a minister? You fail when you fail to train those to succeed you. I have trained a lot of people who are capable of succeeding in many areas.”

It must have taken a lot of convincing by President Tinubu to get these two on board and one is not surprised that the Senate allowed them to go without raising eyebrows.

Arguably, the biggest dramatic moment was the withdrawal of the nominee from Kano State, Dr Maryam Shetty. It never occurred to the nominee that her name had been struck off the list until her arrival at the gate of the National Assembly. It was a poignant moment and would be one of those episodes that would linger in the mind for years. I recall a similar incident that occurred in 1985. General Ibrahim Babangida had just overthrown General Muhammadu Buhari and was organising his first cabinet.

A late contemporary of ours in Maiduguri was named a minister. He was a popular, well-to-do, young man, running one of the best well-stocked supermarkets in town. He also had a modern mixed farm outside Maiduguri on the highway to Konduga. But his educational qualifications were rather low, and he had no public service record. On the day of the swearing-in of ministers at the Dodan Barracks in Lagos, then the seat of the government, he was seated along with others in the council chambers when he was approached by one of the State House aides and told to leave. He left the chambers but remained standing in the corridor wondering what to do.

One of the generals coming for the meeting not knowing what was playing out, expressed surprise to see him outside and asked him to return to the chamber. He went back to sit in the chamber but was shortly asked to leave by the same aide. He eventually left. It was a sad moment for him, but his replacement a few weeks later, would prove an outstanding success. His replacement was a brilliant civil engineer, now also late, then heading the biggest river basin authority in the country. He became a fixture of the Babangida cabinet giving dazzling performances in the five ministries he headed and became one of the handful to remain till the last day of the regime in 1992.

I am not surprised that Dr Shetty has taken this disappointment in her strides. She described the episode as life’s ‘characteristic unpredictability’, adding that the unexpected development was the will of Almighty Allah. That’s how it should be.