No rancour among over committees’ composition- Senate

By Tunde Opalana, Abuja

The Senate has refuted rumours of rancour among senators over the composition of the 69 standing committees of the Senate as announced on Tuesday by Senate President, Ahmed Lawan.

Chairman Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Adedayo Adeyeye told journalists on Thursday in Abuja, that the Senate was unaware of such purported insinuations over chairmanship and vice chairmanship of committees.

Sen. Adeyeye said such complaints were unknown to the Senate, declaring that “first and foremost, I have not received any call from any senator complaining about the committees to which they had been placed.

‘It has also not come to my notice as well, apart from you (journalists) now drawing my attention to it that there has been any senator who has expressed dissatisfaction with the committee to which he had been appointed to head. To that extent, I believe that everything is in the realm of rumours and I don’t attach much importance to rumours.

“However, I will let the public know the facts since you said that this matter is already circulating in the social media. By the rules of the Senate and by the constitution, the President of the Senate has been conferred with the powers and authority to appoint people into various committees of the Senate.

“He has exercised that power on Tuesday to the best of his knowledge and perhaps in consideration of the different backgrounds of senators. You journalists talk about juicy and non- juicy committees. 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.

“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 complaint 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.

“Therefore, if you don’t have that opportunity, please in whatever committee you have been placed as chairman, see it as a service to the nation so that the nation can benefit immensely from their experience and commitment.”

He said the Senate President has done everything possible to keep the Senate together, adding that there won’t be any form of rancour either now or when the Senate resumes plenary.