Akunyili Splits Senate Over Miniterial Nomenies

There was a rowdy session in the Senate on Monday as senators were sharply divided over the screening of former Minister of Information and Communication, Professor Dora Akunyili.

Trouble started in the Senate when Senate Chief Whip, Senator kanti Bello accused her of working against ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua and the unity of the nation.

Bello is from Katsina, the home state of the ailing President and was at the forefront of the agitation in the Senate against confirming Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President.

Akunyili, one of the ministerial nominees sent by Acting President Jonathan to the Senate for clearance is perceived by some elements in the north as having worked against the ailing President at the peak of agitations for his removal on account of his ill health.

The former minister incurred the wrath of the north when she presented a memo at the Executive Council of the Federation seeking it to discuss the health of the President to enable it vote on the matter in line with section 144 of the constitution.

Section 144. (1) (a) of the 1999 constitution provides that “The President or Vice-President shall cease to hold office, if by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all the members of the executive council of the Federation it is declared that the President or Vice-President is incapable of discharging the functions of his office

Some senators from the north had since her nomination mounted pressure on the Acting President to replace her with Senator Joy Emordi whose election was annulled by the Appeal Court.

That agitation however fell on deaf ears as Jonathan still retained her in the list.

Senator Bello at the screening accused the former minister of betraying the Yar’Adua family who he said, she was so close to, to the extent she prepared meals for the President’s wife.

He also charged Akunyili of being a member of the same cabal she had accused of trying to hijack the administration in the absence of the President adding that he thought Akunyili was “a patriot and a nationalist”.

Bello’s outburst triggered reactions from other lawmakers resulting in an uproar in the Senate.

First to attack Bello in defense of Akunyili was Senator Lee Maeba who described his outburst as un-parliamentary.

That position was sustained by Senate President David Mark who also called Bello to order.

Aggrieved senators rejected motion by Senate Leader Teslim Folarin to extend the time of sitting beyond six o clock in the evening to enable Senate conclude screening of the 14 nominees listed for Monday.

However, responding, Professor Akunyili who had no apologies insisted that her action was nationalistic and patriotic adding that she has nothing against the President.

Insisting that she had in no way betrayed the President, Akunyili stressed that she is still loyal to the President and only introduced the memo in the best interest of the nation.

She also debunked the allegation that she cooked for the first lady describing that as false.

Maintaining that she has always been nationalistic, Akunyili recalled that while she was the Director General of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), she did not spare drug barons most of who were from her part of the country.

Meanwhile in his own presentation, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Adetokunbo Kayode, who was screened before Akunyili also justified the ‘doctrine of necessity’ employed by the National Assembly to clear Jonathan as acting President.

He said that was the right thing to do at the time to move the nation forward.