Senate postpones Amaechi’s screening again

‎The screening of Rotimi Amaechi, a ministerial nominee and former governor of Rivers state, by the senate will not hold on Thursday as expected.

According to a source who spoke with TheCable but asked not to be named, Amaechi’s screening will now hold on Tuesday October 20.

The former governor was scheduled to be screened on Wednesday, but was later dropped from the list of nominees to be screened for the day due to the absence of a report‎ on a petition against his ministerial nomination by a group from Rivers state.

Amaechi is alleged to have looted N70 billion Rivers state funds. A panel of inquiry instituted by Nyesom Wike, the current governor of Rivers state, indicted the ministerial nominee of fraud and corruption, but he continues to maintain his innocence.

When his case was heard last week, the‎ senate committee on ethics, privileges and public petitions, which was mandated to investigate the allegations contained in the petition, suspended the hearing on the grounds the matter was already in court.

Speaking with journalists on the report Wednesday evening, Samuel Anyanwu, chairman of the committee, had said: “We are supposed to turn up a report on the matter, but it is not yet ready. I’m sure in the next few hours it will be turned up. Committee reports must be holistic.”

On whether the report will be presented to the senate on Thursday, he simply said: “‎We are still on it.”

Adebayo Shittu, the other nominee whose screening was slated for Wednesday only to be postponed, will also not be screened on Thursday.

Ministerial screening was not listed in the order paper of the senate, which contains activities of the upper chamber for the day.