The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday distanced itself from the statements made by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on the confirmation of nominations made by the Executive which has pitted the National Assembly against the executive.
This is even as the Council approved the validation of a new anti-corruption strategy.
Senators on Tuesday vowed to stand down all requests for confirmation into executive positions in the Federal Government following statements by the Acting President challenging the Senate’s capacity to confirm certain nominees of the executives. They had spoken specifically to his statement regarding the continuous stay in office of Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Speaking in an interview in April, Osinbajo was quoted to have said: “It is up to the Senate to make their judgment, and it is up to us to say what we want to do. If our candidate is rejected, we can
re-present him. No law says we can’t re-present him. And again, there is the other argument, whether or not we need to present him for confirmation and that’s a compelling argument from Femi Falana,” he said.
However, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami while responding to questions at the Post Federal Executive Council briefing said though the issue had come up for discussion at the cabinet meeting, since the cabinet was not particularly connected or reached a consensus to maintain a particular position, it cannot begin to defend what it did not decide on.
“The fundamental consideration about the alleged statement is the fact that at no point ever did the Federal Executive Council sit down to arrive at the decision in one way or the other as far as the issue of nomination or otherwise is concerned. So I do not think it constitutes an issue for the Federal Executive Council to make any clarification about because it has never been considered by the FEC. So the minister of information will throw more light on the matter” Mallami told newsmen at the post FEC briefing.
Details soon…
Elizabeth Archibong
