The Senate was on Tuesday, September 29, thrown into an uproar as minority leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, kicked against the appointment into the National Pension Commission (PENCOM).
President Muhammadu Buhari had in a letter directed to the Senate sought the approval of Aisha Umar from the northeast geopolitical region as the new director-general of PENCOM.
The president also wanted the upper chamber to confirm the appointment of Oyindasola Oni as Chairman of the commission.
But Abaribe, in a point of order, kicked against the appointment of Umar, saying she came from the northeast in what clearly contradicted the act establishing the PENCOM.
According to the senator, the replacement of Chinelo Anohu-Amazu from the southeast with Umar (northeast) breached the PENCOM laws.
The appointment of Hajiya Aisha Umar (northeast) as PENCOM DG was rejected by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe. Credit: The Nation.
The Senate minority leader insisted that Anohu-Amazu’s replacement must come from the southeast as entrenched in the PENCOM act.
He noted the National Pension Commission Act of 2014 provided that “in the event of a vacancy, the President shall appoint a replacement from the geo-political zone of the immediate past member that vacated office to complete the remaining tenure.”
In his words:
“I recall that the tenure of the incumbent was truncated, therefore, the new letter from the President that has now moved the Chairman of the Commission to another zone may not be correct because it is against the law setting up the National Pension Commission.“Before you send it to the appropriate committee tomorrow, I wish to draw the attention of the committee to it.”Meanwhile, newsmen reported that President Buhari on Tuesday, September 29, made a crucial replacement of two non-career ambassadors-designate earlier appointed by him.
This was contained in a letter directed to the Senate president, Ahmad Lawan, which he read during the first plenary after the lawmakers’ two-month recess.
