Nigeria’s Senate leader, Yahaya Abubakar Abdullahi on Monday confirmed that the Senate was in receipt of an executive communication on the appointment of the immediate past Service Chiefs from President Muhammad Buhari.
Responding to questions on whether he envisages any hiccups in passing the nominees, given that the upper chamber in the past had heavily criticised them over insecurity, the lawmaker urged curious Nigerians to give the Senate a chance to do their work.
Senator Abdullahi was optimistic that the communication would be read as the chamber resumes from Christmas and New year break on Tuesday, saying that once, it is read, I will proceed to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs to look at their merits.
According to him, he wouldn’t pre-empt the committee, but noted that members of the Foreign Affairs Committee are experienced diplomats and seasoned administrators who are capable of scrutinising them at the Committee level.
He said: “I want to thank you for coming around to interview me. You recall that we went on Christmas and New year break and we have not been able to resume due to registration and revalidation by the majority party.
“Now that we are resuming, some of the issues that you have raised about the ex-Service Chiefs, as ambassadors, actually have not been brought to the floor of the Senate yet, the communication will be read hopefully by the Senate President tomorrow.
“Then whatever happens, it will be passed on to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs tomorrow.
“The Committee on Foreign Affairs will do its deliberations on the situation, but I don’t want to pre-empt whatever the Committee is going to resolve because the Committee is composed of several responsible and highly responsible Senators; some of whom were once ambassadors and they would know exactly some qualifications of ambassadors.
“As the Senate leader, I want to say, the Committee will later send their report to the Committee of the whole, then some of the issues you are raising will be looked at.
“I don’t want to pre-empt them, let them do what is just, do what is right. Let them apply what is right using all the necessary criteria
Ambassadorial nominees: Senate leader tells curious Nigerians to wait
