Ministerial Screening :17 Out Of 22 Ministerial Nominees Asked To Take A Bow Without Questioning So Far By Senate

The immediate past Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has become the 17th ministerial nominee out of 22 to be endorsed by the Senate without being questioned.

Sirika, who is a former senator from Katsina State, was asked to “take a bow” and leave by virtue of being a former member of the National Assembly.

Take a bow’ is a privilege traditionally reserved for nominees, who are former members of the National Assembly. It allows nominees to simply take a bow and leave without being questioned.


The upper chamber of the National Assembly had initially reserved the ‘take a bow’ for former members of the National Assembly but the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, has extended the privilege to former members of state assemblies and women.

So far, only five ministerial nominees have been questioned. They include Abubakar Malami, Ogbonnaya Onu, Uche Ogah, Niyi Adebayo and Sunday Dare.

“We all have his CV and we all know that he was a member of the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2007 and a member of the Senate from 2011 to 2015,” Lawan said.

In his submission, however, Senate Minority Leader, Eyinnaya Abaribe, who described Sirika as a credit to the Muhammadu Buhari administration, urged Sirika to focus on Enugu Airport if he returns as a minister in charge of aviation.

Lawan subsequently asked Sirika to take a bow and leave.