Senate Spokesman Defends Lawan over Choice of Committee Chairmen

Senate Spokesman Defends Lawan over Choice of Committee Chairmen

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Adedayo Adeyeye, has risen in stout defence of the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, over his choice of the chairmen of the 69 standing committees of the upper chamber.

Adeyeye, who was reacting Thursday to insinuations that some Senators were disgruntled about the committees they were asked to chair, declared that the rules of the Senate as well as the provisions of the 1999 Constitution gave the Senate President power to fix senators into the various committees.

According to him, by the rules of the Senate and by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Senate President has been conferred with the powers and authority to appoint people into various committees of the Senate.

“The Senate President has exercised that power on Tuesday to the best of his knowledge and perhaps in consideration of the different background of the senators”.

Commenting on whether a committee is ‘juicy’ or not, the Senate spokesman emphasised that “I don’t know anything about juicy and non- juicy committees, what I know is that there are 69 standing committees of the Senate that have been constituted.

“In any case, juicy or non-juicy, I believe that it is a call to duty for Senators to serve their fatherland and to serve the nation meritoriously. So, in whatever capacity anybody has been placed, he has been called upon to merely render service”

He further advised his colleagues that “if you believe that the committee you have been placed will not give you enough responsibility to exert a lot of your energy as chairman, you belong to other committees which you can still make your contributions”.

“I would plead with those who may have one complaints or the other to sheath their swords. They should see their chairmanship or membership of the various committees as a call to service. They should let us continue to work in one accord, harmoniously.

“These committees, as I have learnt, are also subject to review before the end of the four-year term. If you have 69 committees, there is no way, in which about seven people who want to be chairman of a particular committee could get it. Only one person would be appointed”.

Related Articles