The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has been able to get the 9th Senate to confirm at least 207 appointees for him in the last one year of the existence of the current Senate.

The 207 already confirmed include judges, ministers, ambassadors, commissioners and heads of agencies.

However, Buhari has not considered the re-appointment of the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu.

Magu was appointed by the President on November 9, 2015 subject to confirmation by the Senate. But he has remained in acting capacity since then.

He was rejected twice by the 8th Senate, under the leadership of Dr Bukola Saraki, based on a security report by the Department of State Services. He, however, remained in office.

Saraki’s tenure as Senate President was characterised by a frosty relationship between the Presidency and the National Assembly.

However, since the inauguration of the 9th Senate led by Ahmad Lawan on June 11, 2019, Buhari has sent the names of 200 individuals to the upper chamber for confirmation but has not sent that of Magu.

This is despite assurances by Lawan that the Senate would act swiftly if Magu’s name is forwarded to the Senate for approval.

When the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Itse Sagay, paid him a visit at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja on November 21, 2019, Lawan said there was no request before the 9th Senate for the confirmation of Magu.

Magu is expected to retire from the police force in the next 23 months when he would have turned 60.

The 9th Senate, which prides itself as friendly towards the executive, has rejected the confirmation of only one of Buhari’s nominees in the last one year and she was rejected because of her refusal to show up for screening.

In July 2019, Buhari wrote the Senate seeking the confirmation of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad, which was swiftly granted.

Two weeks later, the President nominated 43 persons to be confirmed by the Senate as ministers. They were all confirmed within a week with many of them being asked to “take a bow and go”.

In September 2019, the upper chamber received a request for Adeleke Adewolu to be confirmed as an Executive Commissioner of the Nigerian Communications Commission to replace Sunday Dare, who had resigned to take up a ministerial appointment. The request was granted.

The following month, Buhari sought the confirmation of 16 nominees for the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission. They were all confirmed, except Joy Nunieh of Rivers State for failing to appear for screening. Those confirmed have, however, not been inaugurated to date.

In November 2019, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Justice John Tsoho as the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, based on the President’s request.

For December 2019, the Senate approved 13 nominees as chairman and commissioners of the National Assembly Service Commission. The nominees were inaugurated by the President.

In the same month, Buhari got the Senate to approve 18 nominees for the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, with Alhaji Zikrullah Hassan as chairman.