Senate confirms seven RECs, stands down one nominee

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed seven out of the nine nominees for the position of Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
They are Baba Yusuf (Borno), Dr Uthman Abdulrahman (Kwara), Mr Segun Agbaje (Ekiti) and Dr Cyril Omorogbe (Edo).
Others are Yahaya Bello (Nasarawa) Dr Emmanuel Hart (Rivers) and Mohammed Ibrahim (Gombe).
The confirmation followed a successful screening of the nominees at the committee level and adoption of report submitted during plenary by Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, Sen. Suleiman Nazif.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari in December asked the Senate to confirm nine INEC RECs in line with section 154 (1) of the 1999 Constitution.
However, the nominee of Akwa Ibom, Elder Monday Tom, was stepped down while that of Osun, Eric Olawale did not turn up for the screening.
Presenting the report, Nazif said of the nine nominees referred to the committee for screening, only eight showed up.
He said that the nominee for Osun did not communicate to the committee reasons for his absence.
According to him, Tom, the nominee for Akwa Ibom state was stood down for further legislative action.
“Other seven nominees were duly cleared by the relevant security agencies and the Code of Conduct Bureau,’’ he added
In his remark, the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki commended members of the committee for their diligence during the screening process.