APC senators ignore party directive, screen service chiefs
Seven members of the All Progressives
Congress in the Senate on Monday dared the leadership of their party
by participating in the screening of the Chief of Defence Staff and
service chiefs recently appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The APC had last week directed its
members in the National Assembly to block the passage of all legislative
bills, including the 2014 budget, and the screening of ministerial
nominees as well as the CDS and the new service chiefs.
But Senators Akin Odunsi, Kabiru Marafa,
Sani Saleh, Atai Aidoko, Babafemi Ojudu, Jubrilla Bindo, and Ajayi
Boroffice, were among other senators who participated actively in the
joint committees of Defence, Army, Navy and Air Force to screen the new
military chiefs in Abuja.
The Chairman of the joint committee,
Senator George Sekibo, observed that the screening was the first to be
carried out by the Senate since the return of Nigeria to civil rule.
He said such had not been done despite
the fact that Sections 217 to 219 of the 1999 Constitution as
amended
made provision for it.
Sekibo also said past administrations in
the country had not been sending the names of service chiefs for
confirmation despite the fact that the National Assembly enacted the
Armed Forces Act 2004.
This Act makes it mandatory for federal lawmakers to confirm the appointment of service chiefs.
Sekibo said, “The screening exercise
today(Monday) therefore is in fulfillment of the provisions of the 1999
Constitution and the Armed Forces Act 2004 (Cap A.20 ). This exercise we
are performing will satisfy the provisions of the 1999 Constitution
and the Act and completely put our Armed Forces under our democratic
norms.”
Sekibo noted that Nigeria was
currently undergoing some major security challenges including the Boko
Haram insurgency in the North- East, oil theft and pipeline
vandalisation in the South-South and kidnapping in the South-East.
Sekibo added that the committee members would screen the competence of the military officers in strategic military operations.
The screening which lasted several hours, was done behind closed doors. The joint committee has one week to submit its report.
When contacted, the Interim National
Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the party’s
directive to its members was not for them to boycott the screening of
President Jonathan’s appointees.
He said “People don’t seem to understand
our directive it is not for them to boycott but to frustrate the
process if the right things are not done. If they don’t attend how will
our voice be heard?”
