A civil society group, All-Nigeria Save Democracy Movement, has petitioned the Senate over the ministerial nomination of former Lagos State governorship aspirant of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The petition urged the Senate to reject the nomination.
The group had, in the petition to the Senate President, David Mark, through Senators Gbenga Ashafa and Obafemi Ojudu, listed several reasons Obanikoro was unqualified to become minister again.
According to the group, Obanikoro, amongst other reasons, is of dual citizenship of the United States of America and Nigeria and as such, going by the provision of the constitution, should automatically be disqualified for the post.
Quoting a provision of the constitution, the group said “Section 66 (1) (a) says “no person shall be qualified for election to the Senate or the House of Representatives if, subject to the provisions of Section 28 of this Constitution, he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship to a country other than Nigeria or, except in such cases as may be prescribed by the National Assembly, has made a declaration of allegiance to such a country.”
By this provision alone, the group noted, Musiliu Obanikoro was not even qualified in the first instance to run for the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria but managed to manipulate the system to get elected into the Senate in 1999, which in itself was fraudulent and criminal.
The petition urged the Senate to reject the nomination.
The group had, in the petition to the Senate President, David Mark, through Senators Gbenga Ashafa and Obafemi Ojudu, listed several reasons Obanikoro was unqualified to become minister again.
According to the group, Obanikoro, amongst other reasons, is of dual citizenship of the United States of America and Nigeria and as such, going by the provision of the constitution, should automatically be disqualified for the post.
Quoting a provision of the constitution, the group said “Section 66 (1) (a) says “no person shall be qualified for election to the Senate or the House of Representatives if, subject to the provisions of Section 28 of this Constitution, he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship to a country other than Nigeria or, except in such cases as may be prescribed by the National Assembly, has made a declaration of allegiance to such a country.”
By this provision alone, the group noted, Musiliu Obanikoro was not even qualified in the first instance to run for the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria but managed to manipulate the system to get elected into the Senate in 1999, which in itself was fraudulent and criminal.
No comments:
Post a Comment