"House Speaker Gbajabiamila Presents Supplementary Ministerial List from Tinubu to Senate"

The former Speaker of the House of Representatives has presented a second list containing a new group of ministerial nominees to Senate President Godswill Akpabio at precisely 03:17 pm. This comes after the screening of the initial 28 nominees from the first batch. Senate President Akpabio is expected to announce the additional nominees appointed by the President.

Last week, the House Speaker had submitted the first list comprising 28 nominees to the Senate, with the promise of forwarding more names later. On Wednesday, the Senate conducted the screening process for five candidates, including Dele Alake, Lateef Fagbemi, Muhammad Idris, Ali Pate, and Doris Uzoka.

The screening exercise began on Tuesday with nine nominees, including former governors Nasir El-Rufai and Dave Umahi, as well as Wale Edun, Uche Nnaji, Stella Okotete, Adebayo Adelabu, Ekperikpe Ekpo, Hannatu Musawa, and Musa Dangiwa. The previous day, Monday, the Senate screened 14 out of the 28 nominees, such as Nyesom Wike, Abubakar Kyari, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, Bello Muhammad, Sani Abubakar Danladi, Badaru Abubakar, Joseph Utsev, Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, Betta Edu, Uju Kennedy Ohaneye, Abubakar Momoh, John Enoh, Iman Suleiman Ibrahim, and Yusuf Maitama Tuggar.

According to Section 147 (3) of the 1999 Constitution, the President is required to appoint at least one minister from each of the 36 states. However, as of now, eleven states (Adamawa, Bayelsa, Gombe, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Lagos, Osun, Yobe, Plateau, and Zamfara), along with the Federal Capital Territory, are yet to have any ministerial nominees put forward.