From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
Some senators, yesterday, protested the confirmation of a non-indigene as Chairman of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), warning that the move may not bode well for the people of the state.
The Senate confirmed Dr. Michael Odeh, an indigene of Cross River State, as RSIEC chairman, an appointment made by the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (retd), who also hails from Cross River.
Senators Abdul Ningi, Mohammed Ali Ndume and Senate Minority Leader Abba Moro raised objections during plenary while the Senate considered the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Implementation of Emergency Rule in Rivers State.
The committee, chaired by Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, had screened Odeh and six other nominees and recommended their confirmation. Nominees for the Rivers State Local Government Service Commission and Rivers State Civil Service Commission were also confirmed.
Presenting the report, Bamidele said the screening committee found nothing in the nominees’ records that violated the 1999 Constitution, and urged the Senate to confirm them.
However, Ningi rejected the recommendation, questioning the rationale for appointing someone from outside the state.
“Are there no people in Rivers anymore? Why is this necessary?” he asked.
“Mr. President, let it be on record that I, Senator Abdul Ningi, stood against this decision, even if it will not stop the confirmation.”
He was backed by Ndume, who also declared: “Mr. President, let it be on record that I, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, stood against this decision.”
In defence of the committee’s recommendation, Senate Chief Whip Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno North) argued that any Nigerian can serve in any state, in line with constitutional provisions.
“Any Nigerian can be appointed to be anybody in any state. This right is guaranteed by the Constitution. I can even serve as the governor of Benue State, if the people of Benue State so elect me,” Monguno said.
Committee chairman, Bamidele, cautioned against politicising the matter and urged lawmakers to seek constitutional amendments if they wished to limit such appointments by state of origin.
“This matter does not need to go through any form of grandstanding. I’m not going for it. It is a constitutional matter.
For any and every appointment Mr. President makes, pursuant to this Constitution, two things always stand out: eligibility and disqualification. You may be eligible, but be disqualified. And the two are well spelled out in our Constitution.
“For eligibility, our Constitution says anyone to be appointed to this position must be qualified to contest for election into the State House of Assembly. The nominee is a Nigerian, well-educated, holds a PhD, and meets this criterion,” he said. He noted that although six of the seven nominees are from Rivers State, the chairman nominee is not, and that the committee sought clarification from the nominee and relevant authorities.
“The nominee was clear that there’s no constitutional section disqualifying him. We paused during the process, consulted widely, and received judicial precedents supporting the position. Politically, we also engaged the administrator, who said the peculiar emergency situation in Rivers warranted an independent outsider to ensure neutrality.”
Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who presided over the session, dismissed the objections based on indigeneship, accusing his colleagues of politicising the issue.
“This is pure politics because it is coming from APC. The Head of Service in Abia is from Edo State, but nobody is talking because he belongs to the Labour Party,” he said.
His remarks drew a swift response from Minority Leader Moro, who warned that matters concerning Rivers State should be handled with caution.
“It’s not from here that politics started creeping into this discussion. We have an administrator that ordinarily should not be a member of the APC. He is from Cross River State and now has picked someone from Cross River again to head the electoral commission.
“You know there were eyebrows when he was appointed administrator. Now he has gone to pick another Cross River person to conduct elections in Rivers,” Moro said.
Despite the protests, the Senate voted to approve the committee’s recommendation. The confirmation of Odeh and other RSIEC nominees was subsequently passed for third reading.