Some members of the House of Representatives under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have reportedly asked Speaker, Yakubu Dogara to retrieve the oil and gas sector committee from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Speaker, Yakubu Dogara
According to them, it is unbelievable that such key committees will be given to the opposition in a government where the APC is the ruling party and the party with the majority in the legislature.
It will be recalled that Dogara named the chairmen and deputy chairmen of 96 standing committees of the House on Thursday, October 22.
Forty-eight members of the APC were picked as chairmen, while 46 members of the PDP were picked. For the position of deputy chairman 54 APC members were picked, while PDP had 38.
The speaker had given several key committees to the PDP including the three oil and gas sector committees.
Among the committees chaired by the PDP are Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream); Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream); Committee on Gas Resources; Committee on Power; Committee on Aviation; Committee on Works; Committee on Air Force, Committee on Environment and Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission.
Already, two APC lawmakers have rejected their appointment in the last one week as a form of protest against Dogara’s decision.
They are former Deputy House Minority Whip, Mr. Garba Dhatti-Muhammad, and a member from Oyo State, Mr. Sunday Adepoju.
Dhatti-Muhammad was named the Chairman, House Committee on Solid Minerals Development, while Adepoju was chosen as the Deputy Chairman, Committee on Special Duties.
Reacting to the rejection by the two members, Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas, told The Punch that he his amazed by his colleagues decision.
He pointed out that some colleagues lost sight of the fact that the APC had already taken care of the government’s finances by holding on to the committees on appropriations, finance, customs, among others.
“The APC already chairs appropriations and finance. We have customs; we have others. Appropriation is the primary function of the parliament,” he said.
In a related development, a member of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Kaita, has said that the “change agenda” of President Muhammadu Buhari could be sabotaged by the alleged lopsidedness of the composition of house committees.
In a similar vein, the majority leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila had said that Dogara did not consult him prior to the announcement of the chairmen of the standing committees.
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