The tradition of take a bow and go in the Senate for some categories of ministerial nominees , played out on Monday when 14 out of the 28 nominees forwarded to it by President Bola Tinubu were screened.
However, three out of the 14 nominees screened, have hurdles bordering on alleged forgery, age falsification to cross.
Those given the treatment of take a bow and go by the Senate during the screening which lasted for about six hours, were the Acting National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abubakar Kyari from Borno State, Senator John Enoh from Cross River State and Hon Abubakar Momoh from Edo State.
Others are Nyeeom Wike from Rivers State, Abubakar Badaru from Jigawa State, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar from Bauchi State and Hon Nkiruka Onyejeocha from Abia State.
While Kyari as former Senator who represented Borno North in the 8th and 9th Senate, did not utter a word before given the privilege of take a bow and go , Wike and five other nominees , who got similar treatment, were made to make presentations on their personalities before given the privilege.
However, three out of the seven other nominees, grilled during the session have hurdles to cross on issues bordering on alleged age falsification, forgery / perjury etc .
The three affected nominees are Senator Abubakar Sani Danladi from Taraba State , Hon Bello Muhammad from Sokoto State and Professor Joseph Utsev from Benue State .
Specifically, the Taraba nominee , Senator Abubakar Danladi was taken up on alleged court judgement banning him from holding public office for 10 years .
Though he spiritedly denied the allegation but the Senate President , Godswill Akpabio , ruled that the issue would be looked into at the stage of confirmation.
The question mark on Hon Bello Muhammad from Sokoto State , was on his secondary school certificate.
The nominee as observed by Senator Jimoh Ibrahim ( APC Ondo South) , submitted secondary school certificate that does not tally with grades contained in his resume.
He in his defence , told the Senate that the certificate that has the grades stated in his resume , was not attached but would be provided later .
The Senate President in his remarks wondered why the nominee was selecting photocopies of certificates to be attached to resume submitted to the Senate .
“Mr Nominee, you will have to make available the certificate that has the grades stated in your resume . Forward it to the secretariat as it would be needed at confirmation stage,” he said.
For the Benue nominee, Professor Utsev, his resume stating that he started primary school at the age of three and finished at the age of Nine, was questioned.
All in all, the President of the Senate, reiterated that all issues of infractions on certificates submitted by the affected nominees , would be thoroughly looked into at the stage of confirmation.
Though the Ondo nominee , Hon Olubunmi Tunji – Ojo , was taken up by Senator Sadiq Umar ( APC Kwara North) , on why he did his national youth service at the age of 38, but his clarification was accepted by the Senate.
The nominee who was born in 1982 , served in 2020 but in his explanation , he finished University in United Kingdom in 2005 under the age of 30 , making him to do the compulsory national youth service in 2020 after returning to Nigeria .
