Godwill Akpbio

The Senate has approved the appointment of 45 out of 48 ministerial nominees sent to the chamber by President Tinubu.

The nominees were screened and approved on Monday, August 7, 2023.

Among those whose nomination was approved are Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo (Ondo) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers).

The screening of the nominees began on July 27, 2023, when Tinubu sent the first list of 28 nominees to the Senate.

Six days later, the president forwarded an additional 20 names to make the total number of ministerial nominees 48.

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has told ministerial nominees that taking a bow during screening before the lawmakers does not mean they have been cleared or confirmed.

Akpabio made the clarification on Monday, during the screening of a nominee from Anambra State, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye.

Kennedy-Ohanenye, who was the first female ministerial nominee to be screened by the red chamber on the first day of the screening, was the sole female presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 presidential election.

Kennedy-Ohanenye, a native of Anambra State, stepped down for former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, during the APC presidential primary in June 2022.

She was one of the seven female nominees that made the President’s 28-men ministerial list unveiled last Thursday by the Senate President.

After Kennedy-Ohanenye’s introductory comment, Senator Ireti Kingibe from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) asked her colleagues to let the ex-APC presidential aspirant take a bow.

Kingibe said, “I would like to support distinguished Senator Ifeanyi Ubah that she (Kennedy-Ohanenye) also should take a bow. She deserves it, and everybody else has taken a bow. I think her CV (Curriculum Vitae) requires that she takes a bow also.”

Responding, Akpabio said, “Distinguished Senator Ireti Kingibe, any nominee that comes before us will take a bow, whether the person is cleared or not.

“At the end of the day, we will go into the clearance and the confirmation; we will confirm whether the person is qualified or not, but bowing before the hallowed chamber is a tradition all over the world.

“So, if you are saying others have taken a bow, they took a bow because they entered into the hallowed chamber.

“We have to amend our rules; we have to suspend our rules to allow strangers to come in. So, when they come, they take a bow; the bow does not mean they have been confirmed. So, even if she (Kennedy-Ohanenye) takes a bow, we will still go into the issue of confirmation later.”