Centre urges Senate to shun petition, clear Okotete for ministerial position

The Centre for Social Justice Equity and Transparency (CESJET) has urged the Senate to ignore a petition by “disgruntled elements” against ministerial nominee, Stella Okotete.

The Centre, at a press conference on Monday, said the petition is a hatchet job executed on behalf of someone who had expected to be nominated from Delta state.

In his address, Executive Secretary, Comrade Ikpa Isaac, said it laughable that the petitioners want Okotete disqualified over a mere court case of which she is still innocent until proven otherwise.

Isaac, therefore, described the petition as hollow “since it did not consider that President Ahmed Bola Tinubu could not have made the nomination without first having the nominee screened and cleared by the relevant law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies.”

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He added that Okotete is eminently qualified for the ministerial role for which Mr President has appropriately nominated her.

Comrade Isaac, however, advised her detractors to find new vocations, noting that the ship has sailed past the port of distraction where they are currently located.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the petitioners should come up with valid court rulings that convicted the nominee of criminal acts, which would have ensured that she is not fit to hold public office by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended,” he said.

“It is shocking that the strongest point the petitioners could marshal, even as lawyers, is the pending case before the Federal High Court Suite No: FHC/ABJ/C8/2233/2023 /Public Complaint against criminal conspiracy to wit, which is ultimately laughable.

“Their flawed logic will create a dispensation where people are precluded from holding public offices simply because there is one frivolous court case or the other against them. They based their demand for her disqualification on the faulty premise that she would be found guilty, which says a lot about their professionalism as lawyers. It is trite to state that Mrs. Stella Erhuvwuoghene Okotete is assumed innocent of all court charges against her until she can be proven guilty, for which she even has the right to challenge any ruling up to the Supreme Court until she is sure justice has been done.

“Furthermore, it is frightening that people who called themselves lawyers could openly canvas for the Senate to usurp the judiciary simply out of their desperation to truncate Mrs Okotete’s ministerial nomination for their client(s). If the matters they have raised are so fundamental and germane the logical thing is to approach a competent court with their facts and get the injunctions they are currently forum shopping at the Senate.

“We are at a loss how Juryman Associate Chambers singled out Mrs Okotete for harassment on the strength of a supposed Senate resolution on her suitability for office when immediate past Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who is on the same nomination list was left unmentioned even though the same Senate in December 2013 barred him for life from holding public office on account of being indicted for corruption. One is left wondering how lower the folks from Juryman Associate Chambers are willing to sink.

“The Centre for Social Justice Equity and Transparency (CESJET) is making this intervention, as it has done in the past when people with questionable intent attempted to prevent competent persons from being appointed to public office. CESJET will continue to resist attempts at keeping qualified persons away from occupying public office.

“If the petitioners remain desperate to satisfy whomever their client is, CESJET strongly advises them to shop for other excuses in marshaling their argument on why Mrs Okotete should not be confirmed as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They can also shop for a client who is interested in targeting another nominee with baggage – not that they will find.

“For now, suffice it to say that Mrs. Stella Erhuvwuoghene Okotete, is eminently qualified for the Ministerial role for which Mr President has appropriately nominated her. Her detractors should find new vocations since the ship has sailed past the port of distraction where they are currently located.”