The Senate has confirmed the appointments of Mr. Anthony Okechukwu Ojukwu as Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, and Prof. James Momoh as Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The appointments were confirmed at the plenary on Tuesday.
President Muhammadu Buhari had nominated Ojukwu and Momoh for the positions and sought the approval of the Senate for the appointments.
The Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters recommended Ojukwu for confirmation, while the Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy okayed Momoh’s appointment.
The Senate had on February 28, 2018, resolved to investigate Ojukwu’s resumption without legislative approval.
Senator Dino Melaye had alleged that the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), had “affronted and confronted” the powers of the Senate by asking the nominee to resume duties.
Melaye had said, “If the Attorney General of the Federation, who is supposed to be the custodian of our laws and the chief law enforcer, will flagrantly ask an individual, who has been nominated by Mr. President but has not been confirmed by the Senate, to go and resume, and the person has since resumed and started working, then we are not practising democracy; then we have no regard for the Constitution and the rule of law.”
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, had recalled that the lawmakers raised a similar issue in 2017, when nominees who had not been confirmed resumed duties.
“I thought this matter had been laid to rest because we were very clear on this issue that once nominees have not been confirmed, they cannot go ahead and resume,” he said.
Saraki had asked Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator David Umaru, to look into the matter.
Posted by Juliet Ekwebelam (Punch)
