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House of Reps reconvenes tomorrow amid unpaid sundry allowances

By Adamu Abuh, Abuja
01 July 2019   |   3:02 am
The House of Representatives has allayed the fears that it would not reconvene tomorrow due to paucity of funds for smooth legislative duties. This comes as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) grapples with the choice of House Leader. Members of the Hajia Khadijat Bukar Abba Ibrahim-led Ad hoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs,…

[FILE PHOTO] House of Representatives of Nigeria PHOTO:Wikipedia

The House of Representatives has allayed the fears that it would not reconvene tomorrow due to paucity of funds for smooth legislative duties.

This comes as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) grapples with the choice of House Leader.

Members of the Hajia Khadijat Bukar Abba Ibrahim-led Ad hoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs, who jointly addressed reporters yesterday, expressed the readiness of the chamber to resume proceedings despite the fact that they had not been paid their sundry allowances.

She, however, disclosed that virtually all the 360 members had been allocated offices and attached to no fewer than 96 standing committees.

A committee member, Salam Bamidele (APC: Osun), said: “The chamber is ready. The welfare committee is handling the matter. Our office allocation is almost done. On the issue of payment, the day is not ended yet. We still have Monday as a working day and so anything can still happen. They are working round the clock on the issue.

“The matter would affect the determination of members to come in and do the job that they have to do. Everybody is ready to work. I want to believe that the resumption on Tuesday is not threatened. The ad hoc committees that have to do with putting in place logistics have substantially completed their work by now.”

Hajia Ibrahim reiterated the resolve of the Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila-led lower legislative chamber to ensure a cordial working relationship between the executive and legislature in the interest of Nigerians.

Nevertheless, ongoing moves by the ruling APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to allegedly impose Aminu Sulaiman as against Ado Doguwa as House Leader are not going down well with members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

It was reliably gathered that the entire members of the NWC are opposed to Oshiomhole’s decision to back Sulaiman, a third-term legislator, who was Kano State Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

The lawmaker represents Fagge Federal Constituency of Kano and was chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education in the eighth assembly.

Already, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje alongside other legislators from the northern state has warmed up for a showdown with Oshiomhole on the issue.

It was gathered that the governor would storm the national secretariat of the party today with no fewer than 19 of the 24 reps members from the state in support of Doguwa, a fifth-term member.

Sources within the upper echelon of the party expressed concern over Oshiomhole’s alleged high-handedness and parochialism.

“This chairman can be so erratic and self-centred. He is imposing Sulaiman on the House simply because they worked together before in the NLC as comrades.

There is a difference between the NLC and party politics. This position was zoned to Kano and the stakeholders in Kano have made up their minds on who they want to occupy the position. Doguwa is not new to the Gbajabiamila camp. They were together in the struggle in 2015 and in 2019. He has paid his dues. He remains the most experienced lawmaker best suited for the job as far as we are concerned,” a stalwart stated.

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