Senator Ibikunle Amosun and Senator Rochas Okorocha have pounced on Ambassadorial nominee, Barrister Mohammed Musa Yamah, over his perceived contribution to their failure to produce their successors as governors in their states.
Both Amosun and Okorocha were unable to produce their own successors as governors as their anointed candidates were forced out of the All Progressives Congress and eventually did not win the election on the new platforms adopted.
While Amosun was two-time governor of Ogun State, Okorocha held sway for eight years in Imo State.
President Muhammadu Buhari had nominated Yamah as Ambassadorial nominee for confirmation.
At the commencement of the screening exercise for the 41 non-career and one career Ambassadorial nominees across the various states of the federation, the nominee, from Edo State, ran into troubled waters when asked by the Chairman of the committee, Senator Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa, to explain his contribution to the APC in Edo State.
The nominee, who hails from Esako West Local Government Area of Edo State, stirred the hornet nest when in his response he told the committee members that not only did he ensure total victory for candidates of APC in his area during the 2019 general election, he did justice to national assignments given him at the time by the party’s national leadership.
He said: “I was in the forefront of party members who conducted primary elections for all our House of Representatives candidates in the South West, one of whom is the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.
“I also headed the committee that conducted the APC primaries in Akwa Ibom aside other national assignments, which contributed to the success of the party at the polls.”
Angered by the submission, Amosun, a member of the committee, immediately took the nominee up by telling him that what he described as achievement was a sham.
He said: “I am from the South West and I know all what took place during the so-called primaries perpetrated by your committee and those who assigned you then.
“Please such exercise is not something you should be referring to as achievement because as party members, we knew what happened then and those behind it.
“We don’t want you to carry this type of mindset to foreign post if eventually confirmed.
“So the earlier you erased such unbecoming assignments as personal achievements, the better.”
Hitting the nominee harder over the same remarks, Okorocha, another member of the committee, shouted on him to sit properly, warning him not to make such submissions anywhere again as achievements.
He said: “You are here to be screened and possibly confirmed as an Ambassador to represent Nigeria anywhere you are later posted by the President and reminding us of worst primaries elections ever conducted by a political party in Nigeria under a man that had been sent away now.
“Hope you are not being rewarded for the sham you called primaries and injustice done against loyal party members?
“Don’t ever mention that again or remind people of such stage managed assignments be it in Nigeria or wherever you are posted to or else I will move against your nomination.”
The Chairman of the Committee however came to the rescue of the nominee, who was already sweating, by appealing to members to allow him take a bow and go.
