What is Going on? A Third Nominee, NERC Chairman-Designate, Rejects Buhari's Appointment (Photo)

We reported on Tuesday that Usman Bugaje from Kastina state, became a second non-career ambassadorial nominees after Pauline Tallen, a former deputy governor of Plateau state, rejected his nomination by President Muhamamdu Buhari, in a list sent to the Senate for confirmation last week.

According to a new report by ThisDay, the  Chairman-designate of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Professor Akintunde Akinwande, has also rejected his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari to head the agency.

The rejection marked the third time an appointee by President Buhari would reject his or her nominations in recent days.


Indications that Akinwande had rejected his appointment arose when he shunned his invitation to appear before the Senate Committee on Power for screening on Tuesday and consequently stalling the screening of other nominees.

It was gathered that Akinwande rejected the nomination because he was not consulted before the nomination was made. To underscore his lack of interest in the appointment, he had hitherto failed to appear before the Department of State Services (DSS) for security screening.

Reports further revealed that among the nominees whose credentials were sent to the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, Akinwande’s credentials was conspicuously missing.

It was further learnt that the professor was not resident in Nigeria but based in the United States where he’s pursuing a project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.

“We also learnt that adequate consultation was not made before the man was nominated. We were therefore informed that the nominee may have turned down his nomination,” a source added.

The Chairman of the Senate committee, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said it was impossible to screen other nominees in the absence of the chairman-designate.

The lawmaker from Abia state disclosed that privatisation of electricity sector was meant to improve the power sector, adding that the inauguration of NERC board was key to solving the power sector problems.

“Regrettably, when members of the committee assembled to screen the nominees made by President Buhari, we were told that the chairman-designate was unavoidably absent. The presidential liaison who brought the nominees informed us that the chairman was unavoidably absent,” Abaribe added.