By Thompson Yamput
The Kogi House of Assembly on Tuesday screened 15 commissioner nominees and nine others with portfolios nominated by the new Gov. Usman Ododo.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Wemi Jones,the 16th nominee was unavoidably absent and will be screened Jan. 31.
Among the 15 screened commissioner nominees, 6 are returnees while 9 are new
The six commissioner returnees are Salami Ozigi-Deedat, Bashiru Abubakar-Gegu, Kingsley Fanwo, Timothy Ojoma, Asiwaju Idris-Asiru and Mohammed Abdulmutalib. Wemi Jones is also a returnee.
The nine new nominees screened are Farouk Danlam, Adams Abdulaziz, Joseph Oluwasegun-Stephen (JOS), Muzi Yinusa-Abdullahi, Rabiatu Okute, Fatima Momoh, Mohammed Yusuf, Sunday Faleke and Abanika Taye
Other nominees with portfolios, whose names were sent to the house for confirmation are Ali Bello, Chief of Staff to the Governor; Hilary Ojoma, Deputy Chief of Staff and Elijah Evinemi, Head of Service.
Also Jerry Omodara, State Security Adviser; Isah Ismail, Special Adviser on Media; Sulaiman Ibrahim, Director-General Protocol; Oladele Nihi, Chief Press Secretary; Shaibu Oricha, Director-General Government House Administration and Femi Adegboyega, State Legal Adviser.
Sequel to time lag as claimed by the house, all the 16 commissioner nominees only appeared, introduced themselves and took a bow and left without answering a single question from the lawmakers.
The Speaker of the House, Umar Yusuf, commended members of the house for a job well done at screening of the 25 nominees, whom he described as credible and qualified sons and daughters of Kogi.
Yusuf tasked the nominees to live up to expectations of Gov. Ododo, whom he said nominated them to assist him pilot the affairs of the state to greater height. NAN
