Urum Eke, who was recently nominated by President Bola Tinubu to represent the South-east zone on the board of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has rejected his nomination.
The rejection was announced on the floor of the Senate by the senator for Abia North, Orji Kalu, during plenary on Thursday.
Mr Eke, a consultant to the World Bank, hails from Abia State.
President Tinubu nominated him and four others earlier this month as members of the CBN board of directors.
The others are Robert Agbide, Ado Wanga, Murtala Sagaley, and Muslimat Aliu
The president subsequently sent their names to the upper chamber for screening and confirmation.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Finance and other Financial Institutions, Adetokunbo Abiru, had earlier complained that the South-east nominee was absent for screening.
Mr Abiru, while presenting the report of the screening to the Senate, noted that the other four nominees who appeared for the screening are professionally qualified for the positions.
The senator urged his colleagues to confirm the appointment of the nominees and reject the confirmation of the South-east nominee on the ground that he was absent for the screening.
Thereafter, Mr Kalu told his colleagues that the nominee from South-east had informed him that he had rejected the nomination in order to avoid conflict of interest.
The Abia senator said Mr Eke is a consultant to the World Bank and other international financial institutions which would not allow him to concentrate fully on the appointment.
“Mr President, I am a member of the committee that carried out screening of nominees forwarded to the Senate for appointment as members of Board of Directors of CBN by President Bola Tinubu .
“During the screening exercise , Urum Kalu Eke from Abia North , called me for not attending the session .
“He said as a consultant to the World Bank and other international financial institutions (and) he wouldn’t take the appointment to avoid conflict of interest ”
The Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibirin, who presided over the plenary, subsequently announced the confirmation of the appointment of other four nominees.
