After five days of screening President Muhammadu Buhari's ministerial nominees, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (Delta Central - APC) has complained about fatigue.
President Buhari sent a list of 43 nominees to the Senate last Tuesday, and dozens of them have been screened since the exercise commenced on Wednesday, July 24, 2019.
When Saleh Mamman appeared before senators on Tuesday, July 30, Omo-Agege pleaded with his fellow lawmakers to allow the nominee bow out without questioning because they're tired.
"There's so much fatigue here already. We've been on this nomination thing for how many days now? People are already tired! Are we not tired? We're tired!
"Therefore, Mr President, I'm going to appeal that we allow Mr Saleh, maybe subject to comments by people from his home state, to take a bow and go," he said.
The deputy senate president said Mamman is a loyal supporter of Buhari and that his nomination is appropriate reward for his years of service to the president.
"Even the bible recognises that a labourer is entitled to his wages," he said.
Omo-Agege expressed confidence that the nominee, an engineer, will add value to the deliberations in Buhari's Federal Executive Council (FEC).
"The list of people forwarded to the Senate for confirmation for membership of the Federal Executive Council, you can actually describe it as a cabinet of true believers," he said.
Before Omo-Agege's remarks, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North - APC) urged lawmakers to not question the nominee because he's "not a very good orator".
"He's a good worker. He's not a very good person you want to come here and mesmerise you. You might see him having stage fright. He's not a very good speaker," the Senate's chief whip appealed.
Despite the appeals, Senator Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central - APC) asked the nominee how he would hope to solve the problem of road networks in Nigeria if appointed the Minister of Works.
Mamman said such will be a collaborative effort between many stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the age-long problem.
"These roads have been our problems for decades. I don't know. Whether maybe we don't have good representatives from the Federal Government. The case of our roads is something very pathetic. I don't know why and how. That is all I can say," the nominee replied.
Senator Theodore Orji (Abia Central - PDP), Senator Abubakar Yusuf (Taraba Central - APC), and Senator Isa Shuaibu Lau (Taraba North - PDP) praised the nominee and requested an end to his questioning.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North - APC), then asked Mamman to bow out, bringing an end to his confirmation hearing.