Why we rejected Dankwambo’s list of nominees for Commissioners … Gombe Speaker

Speaker of the Gombe State House of Assembly, Honourable Nasiru Abubakar Nono, Thursday explained why the legislative arm rejected the list of Commissioners nominees sent to them about two weeks ago.

The House which concluded the screening Thursday of another list of 13 out of the 14 names sent to them stated after the screening exercise that they had to reject the list and advised the Governor to do the needful, following the omission of a nominee from Kwami Local Government Area of the State.

He told newsmen that “what actually happened at that time was that the list was brought to the Honourable House with no candidate from one of the Local Government Areas. It was because of that that we advised the Governor to take back the list and put even one candidate from Kwami Local Government Area. So, that’s why we rejected that first list and sent it back to the Governor.”

The Speaker explained further that, “he explained to us that it was not a deliberate plan but that the candidate he had in mind had an accident and so was bedridden and that was why he kept silent about that. We advised him to still go back and nominate the candidate despite the injuries he sustained in an accident and that the House will know what to do during the screening. So at the screening today, we resolved to allow the nominee time to recuperate and then come for his screening.”

However, during the House sitting as a ‘Committee of the whole House,’ the House was sharply divided concerning the screening of the said nominee from Kwami Local Government Area, Danladi Mohammed Pantami, who was receiving treatment at an Abuja hospital following injuries he sustained during a motor accident.

The member representing the nominee’s constituency, Honourable Ahmed Abubakar Doho, Kwami East, while introducing the nominee, requested for a waiver or clearance of the nominee in absentia due to his ill-health and for the fact that he was screened by the same House in 2011 and served as a commissioner until the end of Dankwambo’s first tenure which ended in May 2015.

The Commissioner nominee, Danladi Mohammed Pantami, had written the House and attached a Medical Doctor’s report that he is currently receiving treatment at an Abuja Hospital, as such, he cannot make it to the House for the screening exercise.

Honourable Rambi Ibrahim Ayala from Billiri East and his supporters rejected the request, citing it as a violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which the House is a product of that constitution.