Ministerial Nominee, Balarabe Slumps During Screening

A ministerial nominee, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, slumped while being screened by the Senate on Wednesday, sparking frantic scenes in the Chamber.

The nominee, who is from Kaduna State, had spoken for several minutes during his screening before falling to the floor with several lawmakers rushing to his aid.

Lawal is one of the three new ministerial nominees being screened by the Senate, with others being Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim from Kwara State and Mr Ayodele Olawande from Ondo State.

He has been revived by medical personnel who were called in to resuscitate him following the slump.

Lawal was the second nominee to be screened after the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, moved a motion to extend the sitting time beyond 2 pm to conclude all the items for the day.

He had finished making his presentation to the lawmakers and the Senator Representing Kaduna South, Sunday Marshal, was speaking and saying that the three Senators from Kaduna had no objection to Lawal’s nomination when he (Lawal) fell to the floor.

The Senate went into closed door session while efforts are being made to revive the nominee who is still inside the chamber.

The nominee said he has been serving in government for a long time and intends to bring his experience to the cabinet of the President Bola Tinubu administration.

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.”

• Sodiq Yusuf