The battle for the Chairmanship of committees considered “juicy” in the House of Representatives is heating up activities in the lower house and threatening the stability of the green chambers under the speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, THE WHISTLER gathered…..CONTINUE READING...CONTINUE READING
At one end of the tripod is a former contestant, Muktar Betara, who’s said to be aggrieved that the speaker appears to have preferred Hon. Abubakar Kabir Bichi from Kano State to be the chairman of the prestigious House Committee on Appropriation.
It’s considered the most powerful and juicy committee in the house.
Betara’s grievance is that he was promised the chairmanship of the committee on appropriation, according to a member of his camp.
In addition to that was his position that members of his campaign group in the run up to the election into the office of the speaker would be accommodated in juicy committees, with some slated to head them, a promise he had extracted before stepping down from the race for Abbas.
But a look into the compilation of the list by the House has betrayed “that gentleman agreement” as the speaker “is now dangling the Chairmanship , House Committee on Works in Betera’s face. What kind of a man does that?, ” a member of Betara camp questioned on Tuesday.
The second group of contestants poised for war is the Abbas’ Task Group, the speaker’s support base.
It was gathered that their expectations are not being met after solidly supporting his emergence as speaker on June 13.
Although the majority of them are first- timers, they had hoped they could head prestigious committees, after all the speaker saw their status as freshmen before “making promises.”
The third leg is the old and experienced legislators alongside other contestants, who feel by parliamentary convention and by stepping down for him, they can head those important committees as compensation and to bring their experience to bear in the working of the house..
On the contrary, they alleged that Abbas is building a new support base that would be loyal to him and immune him from any possible impeachment threat by isolating core and experienced lawmakers.
Other committees considered juicy are petroleum and gas, finance, communication, customs, public accounts and defence.
The House is expected to maintain about 95 committees with 30 of those ranked as Grade A, 34 as Grade B, and 31 as Grade C.
As a convention, a chairman of a committee on appropriation can not be a chairman of another committee or deputy again.
It’s in the selection of the heads of the 30 Grade A Committees which include Appropriation that Abbas is accused of spreading “his supporters” to bolster his position in the house.
Another source however accused the immediate past Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, of being a speaker by proxy despite being the Chief of Staff, CoS, to the president.
Gbajabiamila was reported to have anointed and referred Abbas to President Bola Tinubu for approval ahead of the June 13 election.
He’s said to be guiding Abbas on “managing the hawks” in the house and ensuring his “position is protected immediately if he would last four years.”
While the Committees would be shared to reflect the country’s geopolitical reality, a geopolitical zone with large representation would have advantage over others.
The North West has 92 representatives while the South West has 71 members leading the way. The Northwest is expected to head and produce members of committees more than others and would be followed by the Southwest.
Then the South South with 55 representatives, North-Central with 51, and North-East with 48 are expected to share equal membership and headship of committees.
The South East has the least number of representatives with 43, and would equally have the least number of members of committees and heads.
An aide to the speaker however said “although I can’t speak on the issue but there’s no crisis at all.
“The Speaker is not reneging on anything. Everyone would be compensated but know that some people want what’s not possible, they can’t be placated or satisfied.”
At the moment, the House is administered by seven strategic ad hoc committees, a step Abbas was accused of taking to “postpone the evil day” because he was “supposed to set up a committee to be headed by the deputy speaker to share the standing committees.”
It’s gathered that the composition of the statutory standing committees is expected on Thursday ahead of the summer recess…..CONTINUE READING
