Balarabe Abbas, Ministerial Nominee, Slumps During Screening

There was a commotion at the National Assembly on Wednesday after a ministerial nominee, Balarabe Abbas, slumped during screening by the Nigerian Senate.

The ministerial nominee had read out his profile before the incident happened. The development forced the Senate to go into a close session.

This news platform reported earlier that lawmakers, upon resumption of plenary today, began screening three new ministerial candidates nominated by President Bola Tinubu.

The nominees to be screened today are Balarabe Abbas Lawal from Kaduna State, Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim from Kwara State, and Ayodele Olawande from Ondo State.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, had on Tuesday, read a letter from President Tinubu and requested the confirmation of three additional ministerial nominees.

The Senate President said the president nominated Abbas to replace the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, who was not screened and cleared by the Senate due to security reasons.

Recall that the Senate in August 2023 screened and confirmed 45 ministerial nominees who have been sworn in as ministers and rejected three of them.