Alfred Lahiri, Abuja
One of the three ministerial nominees forwarded to the Senate by President Tinubu for confirmation on Wednesday, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, slumped during screening.
Lawal, from Kaduna State is the replacement for the former Governor Nasir El Rufai whose confirmation was stopped due to a pending security clearance.
Panicky senators and security personnel scampered to get first aid treatment for the ministerial nominee.
Lawal who was the second nominee to be screened spoke coherently throughout the period of the screening exercise and showed no sigh of fatigue or any illness when he suddenly went down while concluding his presentation.
The ministerial Nominee was set for the second phase of the screening to respond to questions from the Senator when he collapsed.
Lawal is expected to be deployed to the Ministry of Environment which is reserved for Kaduna state after confirmation.
The Senate went into closed door session with ongoing efforts to revive the nominee inside the chamber.
