LAGOS MARCH 10TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Rivers State House of Assembly yesterday declined confirmation for four commissioner-nominees.
They were denied confirmation after being grilled for hours in a session beamed live on television.
The four nominees, who could not scale the hurdles presented by the lawmakers at their chamber located within the legislative quarters on Aba Road, Port Harcourt are Datonye Alaska, TKD Amachree, Charity Demua and Tamuno Williams.
Five other nominees – Mr. Tonye Bellgam, Prof. Temple Nwofor, Dr. Peters Nwagor, Mr. Lekue Kenneth and Sir Amairigha Edward Hart – were confirmed.
The fallout of the screening was interpreted in many quarters as evidence that there were no proper consultations between the legislature, the executive and the power brokers in the state before the governor compiled and sent the list to the lawmakers.
The lawmakers also gave an impression that the roles played by some of the nominees during the political crisis that rocked the state were the reasons for their rejection.
One of the rejected nominees, Tamuno Williams, a lawyer, who was said to have served many years ago as the Chairman of Okirika Local Government Area was rejected because of the legal position he took and publicised against the House of Assembly during the crisis.
Tamuno was a known vocal supporter of Fubara and was accused of making comments in the media against the House of Assembly.
During the grilling, a brief drama ensued between Tamuno and Speaker Amaewhule, who challenged the nominee on many publications he made on the position of law, which he said did not see the light of the day following the judgment of the court.
While Tamuno tried to defend himself suggesting that in jurisprudence, opinions of two persons may differ, the speaker interjected and said:
“Are you saying that there has not been any posts by you through the electronic or print media?
“Excuse me, listen, he is saying that you have been engaged in such conversation in the media against this August Assembly and you have taken positions in matters of law, which at the end of the day you were wrong because of the judgment of the court. The position you took or stood for in the media against this august assembly turned out that you were wrong because the court ruled that you were wrong. Is it the situation, yes or no”.
Tamuno, however, refused to either answer yes or no and rather said: “Mr Speaker I will not argue with this House.
But Amaewhule concluded: “So, you agreed that you misled the public. You can take your seat Mr Tamuno . You have answered the question”.
Another drama happened during the drilling of TKD Amachree, a lawyer, who hails from the Kalabari axis as the Chairman, House Committee on Information and Public Petition, Dr Enemi George informed the lawmakers that about 11 petitions were filed against Amachree on his involvement in community crisis.
During the confirmation stage, George also told the House that fresh petitions had been signed and sent to the assembly increasing the number to over 15, compelling the lawmakers to unanimously stand down his nomination.
The one that however stunned many observers was the rejection of Prof. Alasia, a professor of Medicine, former Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association and Deputy Chief Medical Director of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital.
Alasia, a medical scholar, who is also Infectious Disease Representatives for the World Health Organisation and Editor-in-Chief, Nigeria Medical Journal, was accused of poor performance during the screening by the lawmakers.
Particularly, they raised the issue of alleged mutilation of the date contained in his birth certificate and the discrepancies or inconsistencies in his names in various certificates he presented.
But Charity Demua, the only female among them could not confidently express herself during the screening.
She was rejected following her admittance that she had not paid tax since 2018.
On while she had no tax certificate, she said: “I didn’t have work. I am a politician”.
The lawmakers and the speaker were reportedly stunned at her response with Amaewhule demanding to know from her whether she implied that politicians don’t pay tax.
The lawmakers asked a number of questions bordering on academic qualifications, work history, tax payment compliance, petitions against some of them, other matters and even asked one of the nominees, Tamuno, to recite the second stanza of the National Anthem.
In his comments, Amaewhule praised the lawmakers for diligently discharging their constitutional responsibilities.
But he said: “We have nine nominees forwarded to this Assembly by the governor. At the end of this screening, the House has confirmed five of them. But the House had chosen to take a deep breath on four of them following their poor performance and controversies surrounding their documents.
“They have not been able to show this Assembly that they are indeed prepared to serve Rivers State or that they are able. We feel that they are not square pegs in square holes for the offices they intend to occupy at the Rivers State Executive Council”.
The speaker said with the leave of the House and in line with their rules, he would forward the resolutions of the Assembly to the governor to enable him take necessary steps in the interest of Rivers State
“The governor should go ahead and swear in the five nominees but he should not swear in the other four that were not cleared”, he said.
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