President Muhammadu Buhari’s new nominee for the chairmanship of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, Mrs. Ronke Sokefun, may be in for a serious battle ahead as she is set to face the screening process at the senate.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday, referred a communication from Buhari which contained a request for Sokefun’s nomination to the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other financial institutions for screening.
The committee, led by Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, was mandated to carry out the assignment and report back to the senate in two weeks.
Buhari had notified the Senate of his decision to replace Chief Olabode Mustapha with Sokefun as the chairman, Governing Board of the NDIC.
In the letter of substitution dated October 23, 2018, Buhari reminded the senators that his earlier request for the confirmation of the appointment of Mustapha as the chairman of the NDIC vide a letter dated March 27 had yet to be confirmed by the Senate.
The President, in the letter, pleaded with the senate to exercise its “usual expeditious consideration” in approving the appointee.
Investigations by our correspondent however revealed that Sokefun might not have it easy with the senate panel as they are already with a petition from Mustapha, challenging his replacement.
Apart from this, the three senators from Ogun State are said to be kicking against the decision of Buhari to withdraw the nomination of Mustapha.
One of the senators, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, alleged that Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, engineered the removal of Mustapha’s name from the list.
He said, “All of us (senators) from Ogun State have given our approval to the appointment of Bode Mustapha and the committee that conducted his screening cleared him for the post.
“The committee prepared its report and was about to submit it when the President sent another letter replacing Mustapha’s name with Sokefun’s. We know the action was engineered by Amosun.
“Mustapha was nominated by Amosun for the position in March this year. This followed the governor’s inability to make Mustapha, who was the director-general of his campaign organisation in the 2011 governorship election, a minister.
“He (Amosun) quickly rushed to the presidency when Mustapha openly declared his support for Mr. Dapo Abiodun as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for next year’s governorship election in the state.”
The senator also alleged that Amosun was angry with Mustapha for not supporting his candidate, Adekunle Akinlade, as the APC candidate.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that the senators from Ogun State would mobilise members of the senate committee to reject the appointment of Sokefun, who is a serving commissioner in the state.
Mustapha, had in a petition to the senate, dated November 7, 2018, said he had already gone through the Senate screening for the post but that Amosun out of vendetta allegedly engineered the substitution of his name.
Mustapha claimed Amosun was angry that he decided to support Abiodun’s governorship bid.
He said, “After I had undergone the Senate screening procedure, and the rigours undertaken in completion of same, I was reliably informed that the governor, in retaliation for my support for Prince Dapo Abiodun, who emerged as the winner of the APC governorship candidate against his candidate, embarked upon a series of reprisals against me.
“He deliberately carried out a misrepresentation of facts to the President. This must have induced the communication regarding the substitution of my name and replacing same with his Commissioner for Urban and Physical Planning, Mrs. Ronke Sokefun.”
https://newsacross.com/amosuns-loyalist-mukaila-kazeem-defects-to-apm/
