Among the seven new Ministerial nominees sent by President Muhammadu Buhari to National Assembly for screening and approval is Umana Okon Umana from Akwa Ibom State.
Until his new appointment, Umana was the Managing Director at Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) and the 2015 Akwa Ibom All Progressives Congress governorship candidate.
He will replace Senator Godswill Akpabio, immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, who resigned and contested the APC Presidential primary.
Straightnews gathered from anonymous source that Umana’s nomination is linked to Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, the immediate past Minister of Transportation and APC Presidential candidate who came second to Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the recently concluded party’s primary.
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Senate President Ahmad Lawan read Buhari’s letter of request on the floor of the Senate, in Abuja, on Tuesday.
In the letter read by Lawan, the president said the nominees would replace the former ministers that resigned from his cabinet.
The letter read in part, “In accordance with Section 8 Subsection 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, I hereby forward the under listed ministerial nominees for your confirmation.
The nominees are Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh – Abia State; Egwumakama Joseph Nkama – Ebonyi State and Goodluck Nnana Opiah – Imo State.
Others are Umar Ibrahim El-Yakub – Kano State, Ademola Adewole Adegoroye – Ondo State and Odum Odih – Rivers State.