MINISTERIAL NOMINEE BALARABE COLLAPSES DURING SCREENING
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Balarabe Abbas Lawal, a ministerial contender, fell on Wednesday while being screened by the Senate, setting off hysterical scenes in the Chamber.
The Kaduna State-born candidate spoke during his screening for a number of minutes before collapsing to the ground and needing the assistance of numerous MPs.
Lawal is one of three new ministerial nominations being considered by the Senate, along with Mr. Ayodele Olawande of Ondo State and Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim of Kwara State.
After the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, moved a motion to extend the session time past 2 p.m. to finish all the matters for the day, he was the second nominee to be examined.
After completing his speech to the lawmakers, Lawal collapsed to the floor as Sunday Marshal, the senator for Kaduna South, announced that the three senators from Kaduna had no objections to Lawal’s candidature.
While efforts are being made to revive the candidate who is still inside the chamber, the Senate entered a closed-door session.
The candidate stated that he has extensive experience working in government and plans to contribute that knowledge to the President Bola Tinubu administration’s cabinet.
He had said, “I want to indicate clearly that, as part of my career, I was appointed secretary to the government three times from 2015 till today. I want to say that I am likely the longest-serving secretary to the government in Nigeria.
“I have been part of administration; I have been part of policy making. I have been part of trying to change things in the country based on what I did at the federal level and at the state level.
“I want to bring this experience to wherever I find myself in the new cabinet of the president. I want to express my gratitude to all of you for listening, and I also want to extend my sincere thanks to the President of the Senate for allowing me to stand before the chambers.
“This is a house of splendor, a house of integrity. A house of democracy, and I feel highly honoured because, to me, this is the highest point of my career — to stand before this hollowed chamber and say things about myself. I feel very happy; today is maybe my happiest day to be here and be addressing this chamber.
“I want to end here by saying that the environment, which I think I may be going is a very important issue, and we know that we have been going through a lot of issues in that environment.”
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