During the Senate screening of ministerial nominees, Senate President Godswill Akpabio emphasized that a nominee taking a bow does not imply automatic clearance or confirmation for a ministerial role.
This clarification came up while screening Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, a nominee from Anambra State.
Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye was the first female ministerial nominee to face the red chamber during the screening process. Notably, she was the only female presidential aspirant representing the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 presidential election. In the APC presidential primary held in June 2022, she withdrew her candidacy in favor of former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu.
Being one of the seven female nominees included in the President’s list of 28 men for ministerial positions, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye delivered her introductory remarks during the screening session. Following this, Senator Ireti Kingibe from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) suggested that her colleagues allow the ex-APC presidential aspirant to take a bow.
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Kingibe said, “I would like to support distinguished Senator Ifeanyi Ubah that she (Kennedy-Ohanenye) also should take a bow. She deserves it, and everybody else has taken a bow, I think her CV (Curriculum Vitae) requires that she takes a bow also.”
Responding, Akpabio said, “Distinguished Senator Ireti Kingibe, any nominee that comes before us will take a bow, whether the person is cleared or not.
“At the end of the day, we will go into the clearance and the confirmation; we will confirm whether the person is qualified or not but bowing before the hallowed chamber is a tradition all over the world.
“So, if you are saying others have taken a bow, they took a bow because they entered into the hallowed chamber.
“We have to amend our rules, we have to suspend our rules to allow strangers to come in. So, when they come, they take a bow; the bow does not mean they have been confirmed. So, even if she (Kennedy-Ohanenye) takes a bow, we will still go into the issue of confirmation later.”