A ministerial nominee, Abass Lawal Balarabe has slumped while standing at the podium during screening.
The nominee, who is from Kaduna State, had spoken for several minutes during his screening on Wednesday before falling to the floor.
As he slumped inside the Red Chamber (Senate) several lawmakers rushed to spot to assist him.
Balarabe had said: “I want to indicate clearly that, as part of my career, I was appointed secretary to the government three times from 2015 till today. I want to say that I am likely the longest-serving secretary to the government in Nigeria.
“I have been part of administration; I have been part of policy making. I have been part of trying to change things in the country based on what I did at the Federal level and at the state level.
“I want to bring this experience to wherever I find myself in the new cabinet of the President. I want to express my gratitude to all of you for listening, and I also want to extend my sincere thanks to the President of the Senate for allowing me to stand before the chambers.
“This is a house of splendor, a house of integrity. A house of democracy, and I feel highly honoured because, to me, this is the highest point of my career — to stand before this hollowed chamber and say things about myself. I feel very happy; today is maybe my happiest day to be here and be addressing this chamber.
“I want to end here by saying that the environment, which I think I may be going is a very important issue, and we know that we have been going through a lot of issues in that environment.”
To salvage the situation, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio immediately requested for a doctor to attend to him.
Akpabio immediately directed the lawmakers to go into closed-door session, while also ordering the camera men to end the recording.
Lawal is one of the three new ministerial nominees being screened by the Senate, alongside Dr Jamila Bio Ibrahim from Kwara State and Mr Ayodele Olawande from Ondo State.
News Flash