A coalition of civil society groups, led by Policy Advocacy and Integrity Network Nigeria, has called on the Senate to ensure due diligence in the final confirmation of ministerial nominees.

Joe Mesele, convener of the network, made the call on Saturday in Abuja when he led representatives of some civil society groups to the National Assembly to protest alleged inconsistency in the credentials of some nominees.

He said the protest was also to protect the integrity of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, adding that the network had vowed to defend good governance and democracy in the country.

He said it was in this direction that it noticed that some ministerial nominees had some questions to answer.

Mr Melese, therefore, called on civil society organisations nationwide and Nigerians generally to come out and speak against any nominee alleged to have questionable character.

“One of such nominees is from Ondo State; he is alleged to have inconsistency in his documents.

“We are not saying he is the only one with such issue, but we are saying that though most of the nominees had been screened, yet to be confirmed.

“The Senate should not rush before it confirms and give them mandate as ministers, it is important that their integrity is not in question.

“It is our view that the Senate does due diligence in clearing and confirming these nominees and any other that may have such issue,” Mr Melese said.

He added that ministerial nominees with certificate-related issues needed to go through proper investigation and be given a certificate of clean records to avoid putting our democracy at stake.

He stressed that the integrity of all the nominees must be proved before they became members of the cabinet, adding that things as common as NYSC certificate and their credentials should not be an issue.

He maintained that while President Bola Tinubu had done his part by nominating the nominees, it was now left to the Senate as representatives of the people to do due diligence on them.

According to Mr Melese, it is not all the nominees that must pass through screening, adding that those with questionable characters should be dropped.

This, he said, was critical to give room for other young Nigerians who were ready to key into Mr Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda to deliver democracy dividends to Nigerians.

“It is the duty of CSOs to be up and doing and to support President Tinubu and the country generally at this time; Nigeria is a collective project and we all must be part of it.

“Any nominee with questionable character must be brought out to the open and possibly dropped,” Mr Melese stressed.

(NAN)