IF some big names are missing from the ministerial list sent to the Senate by President Goodluck Jonathan, it may be largely due to their nomination being shot down by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Tribune can reliably inform.
The commission, according to a source in the know, vetted all the nominees throughout last week, with five of those on the original list sent to it by the State Security Service (SSS) reportedly receiving vote of no-confidence from the anti-graft agency.
It was gathered that the SSS initially sent controversial nominees to the commission for vetting on alleged corruption issues, with the source disclosing that the commission ended up scrutinising all the nominees.
Nigerian Tribune was told that the last batch of nominees sent to the commission by the SSS was returned to sender at the close of last week, with five nominees indicated as unsuitable for the ministerial job over alleged corruption cases against their names.
The fate of the acting chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Haliru Mohammed, might also be hanging in the balance over the Halliburton scam in which his name had featured prominently.
The source did not confirm whether he was one of the nominees labelled unsuitable by the anti-corruption agency.
Another nominee that had probably failed the vetting of the anti-corruption agency hails from the south-western part of the country and manned a very powerful ministry in the last cabinet.
Though no corruption case against him had come into the open, it was gathered that certain issues of financial mismanagement had been covertly established against him in his place of last assignment.
A new nominee had taken the slot for his state.
Another former minister, who might return to a very powerful portfolio, was said not to have impressed the anti-corruption agency over allegations of massive corruption but there were indications that the nominee could find favour with President Jonathan.
There was no replacement for the nominee yet on his state's slot, though the nominee's name was also not on the list yet.
Via:Tribune