The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday tackled the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN, over the action of the letter asking an appointee for Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights commission, NHRC, Tony Ojukwu to assume office without clearance from the upper legislative chamber.
It also mandated its committee on judiciary to investigate the matter.
This development was sequel to an adopted order 14 invoked by Senator Dino Melaye in plenary where he picked holes with the perceived unconstitutional action by Malami and sought the necessary action of the Senate.
Melaye stated that discrete investigation revealed that Ojukwu had resumed office even without confirmation from the Senate.
He emphasized that Nigeria was not a Banana Republic and that President Muhammadu Buhari upon assumption of office on May 29, 2015 swore to respect the constitution and uphold the rule of law.
It was the position of the lawmakers that all nominees by the government must adhere to the constitution or have their appointments invalidated ab initio.
They insisted that a situation where an appointee of government will assume office before confirmation would not be condoned.
Melaye said the AGF was supposed to be an unbiased enforcer of the law as the nation’s chief law enforcer, not to mention his background as a lawyer.
It would be recalled that the Senate had placed an embargo on subsequent confirmation of appointments made by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Responding, Bukola Saraki, senate president, said the senate had deliberated on a similar issued and “we were very clear that once you have not been confirmed, you cannot go ahead and assume”.
“But it is a sign of warning to all appointees that they must follow the laws and they must play accordingly because at the end of the day, issues like this will definitely be looked into during the time of confirmation,” he said.
