Drama as Senate ad-hoc committee rejects report from chairman

A drama unfolded at the plenary on Wednesday when members of the ad hoc committee on oil theft disowned the report that its chairman, Senator Akpan Bassey, had presented for consideration and adoption just as the Senate floor was regaining its composure following the contentious debate over the Naira redesign policy.

On April 14, 2022, the Senate established a 13-member Ad Hoc Committee on Oil Lifting, Theft, and the Impact on Petroleum Production and Oil Revenues. Senator Bassey, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum, served as the committee's chairman ( Upstream).

The committee delivered its report for the Senate's consideration and adoption in plenary on Wednesday, seven months after the assignment, but it ran into difficulties when some of its members disowned it.

The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, presided and was the first to comment on the non-signing of the report. He stated that only six out of the 13 members signed the report that was sent to him.
Omo-comment Agege's led other committee members to publicly admit they disagreed with the report.

Sani Musa (APC Niger East) specifically informed the Senate that the six signatures on the report were derived from an attendance list taken at the committee's first meeting in April. Musa said, “Mr President and distinguished colleagues, only three and not six members of the committee signed the report. As a member, I attended the first meeting along with five other senators whose signatures were attached to the report. After the first meeting, I was not invited to any other meeting and I did not attend any, making this report before us today a very strange one to me.”
Senator Kashim Shettima (APC Borno Central), another committee member, said that as a member of the committee, he was never invited to any meetings and was therefore unable to comment on the report that was submitted to the Senate for review and approval.

The submissions infuriated the Deputy Senate President, who then called Senator George Sekibo as a member of the committee to make suggestions for how to fix the issue. Sekibo consequently proposed that the report be withheld in order for committee members to reach agreement between today and Monday of the following week so that it can be presented in plenary on Tuesday. Omo-Agege then submitted the proposal to a voice vote, which received support from the majority of the senators.
Senators Akpan Bassey (Chairman), Yusuf Yusuf, Solomon Adeola, Kabiru Gaya, Mohammed Aliero, George Sekibo, Gabriel Suswam, Kashim Shettima, Aliyu Abdullahi, Ali Ndume, Stella Oduah, Sani Musa, and Ibrahim Gobir were members of the committee when it was formed in April.


References
Punchng, 'Drama as Senate ad-hoc committee disowns chairman’s report' (online, 2022) <https://punchng.com/drama-as-senate-ad-hoc-committee-disowns-chairmans-report/>.