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Delay In Resignation: Umahi, Geidam Remain Senators Despite Ministerial Appointments

Published

1 year ago

Oct 7, 2023.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Minister of Works, David Umahi, and the Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Geidam, are yet to resign from the Nigerian Senate as Senators.
Both Umahi and Geidam are part of President Bola Tinubu’s 48 ministers who were sworn in on August 21.

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However, after more than a month after their inauguration, the duo are yet to submit their resignation letters to the Senate.

Before they were appointed ministers, Umahi, who represented Ebonyi South, was appointed as Deputy Senate Leader, while Geidam, who was a former governor of Yobe State, was serving his second term as a senator.

Confirming the issue, the spokesperson of the Senate, Yemi Adaramodu, said the duo were yet to submit their resignation letters, and without them submitting, the Senate can not declare their seats vacant.

Adaramodu, while giving possible reasons for the failure to submit their resignation letters, said the National Assembly was on its annual recess when the ministers resumed office, so they might have forgotten as they were trying to settle into their new offices.

The Senate spokesperson said, “The Senate cannot declare any seat vacant if there is no communication from the former lawmakers about their resignation. There are procedures for these things. It is when they send in their communication that the Senate President will read such communication at the plenary that such seats can now be vacant.

“If there had been any communication from them, I am sure the Senate President would have read it out to Nigerians.

“You know we were on break when the ministers were sworn in, so most of them are still settling in. The work ahead of them is also enormous, particularly because of the mandate given to them by the President.

“Also, we have also just resumed, and we have only sat for a day which was used for screening of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the deputies.”