Malami, while speaking with State House correspondents on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting, said that at no point did the Federal Executive Council arrive at such conclusion as to the Acting President making such claim. Malami also said that the issue of nominee confirmation by the Senate had never been an issue for FEC and as such, does not even warrant any clarification for FEC.
According to him, “The fundamental consideration about the alleged statement (by Osinnajo) is the fact that at no point ever did the Federal Executive Council sit down to arrive at the decision in one way or the other as far as the issue of nomination or otherwise is concerned. So, I do not think it constitutes an issue for the Federal Executive Council to make any clarification about because it has never been considered by the FEC.”
Recall that, upon resuming from break, the Senate had, Wednesday, immediately, went into a standoff with the presidency, vowing to stand down all requests for confirmation into executive positions in the Federal Government following the outburst and challenge from the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, to the Senate’s capacity to confirm certain nominees of the executive into federal bodies.
In their resolution, the Senate asked the Acting President to apologise for his challenge to the Senate’s power to confirm persons into certain executive bodies.
Also, and particularly, the Senate frowned at the Federal Executive’s continued refusal remove the Ibrahim Magu who has continued to steer affairs of the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, despite being rejected twice by the Senate.
Of note is to recall the Acting President’s earlier statement in April, after Magu was rejected by the Senate, that, “It is up to the Senate to make their judgment, and it is up to us to say what we want to do. If our candidate is rejected, we can re-present him. No law says we can’t re-present him.
And again, there is the other argument, whether or not we need to present him for confirmation and that’s a compelling argument from Femi Falana.” Also, a reading of a letter from Osinbajo to the Senate, Tuesday, requested it to confirm Lanre Gbajabiamila as the substantive Director-General of the National Lottery Commission (NLC). Osinbajo’s letter which was dated June 12, 2017, was entitled, “Request for confirmation of the appointment of Mr. Lanre Gbajabiamila as Director- General, National Lottery Regulatory Commission.”
However, upon their resumption, the Senate asked the Acting President to apologise for his challenge, vowing that it would stand down all requests for confirmation into executive positions in the Federal Government.
Meanwhile,
the Presidency has denied the report that alluded to the AGF.
According
to a tweet from the Presidency, The Attorney-General's point is that decisions
on Presidential nominations are matters for the Presidency and not that the Federal
Executive Council