Another Nominee Of President Buhari Turns Down Offer

There was mild drama yesterday in the Senate as another nominee of President Muhammadu Buhari, Professor Akintunde Akinwande, failed to turn up for screening as Chairman, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC.

This came barely 48 hours after minister and deputy governor of Plateau State, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, turned down her ambassadorial nomination for lack of consultation.


Professor Akinwande also refused to furnish the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, headed by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, PDP, Abia South, with his date of birth, qualifications, specialization, post-graduate experience and National Youth Service Corps, NYSC.

In a list of nominees circulated by the committee, it was only Akinwade’s column that records of date of birth, qualification, specialization, experience and certificate of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, were missing. The other six nominees provided the information to the committee for perusal and the vital information would have been a prelude to Akinwande’s screening and other nominees for the commission.

A source told Vanguard that Akinwande turned down the nomination “because he was not consulted before the nomination was made and was not ready to leave his present businesses to take up the job.’’