Ad hoc committee members on oil theft disown report, causing commotion in Senate.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

THERE WAS MILD drama in the Senate yesterday when members of the Ad hoc Committee on Oil Theft completely rejected a report presented to the Senate in the hallowed Chamber.

The report was rejected seven months after the committee was given the task, but there was a problem with members disowning it.

The trouble began when the committee’s chairman, Senator Akpan Bassey, YPP, Akwa Ibom North East, presented the report for consideration and eventual adoption.

Recall that 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, chaired by Senator Akpan Bassey, who is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum ( Upstream).

The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo – Agege, who presided, was the first to comment on the non-signing of the report by members, stating that only six out of 13 members signed the report presented to him.

“After the first meeting, I was not invited to any subsequent meetings, and I did not attend any, making the report before us today very strange to me.”

Another member of the committee, Senator Kashim Shettima, APC Borno Central, also disowned the report, claiming that as a member of the committee, he was never invited to any meetings and thus cannot comment on the report being presented to the Senate for consideration and approval.

Not satisfied with the submissions, the Deputy Senate President appointed Senator George Sekibo as a member of the committee to find a solution.

As a result, Sekibo proposed that the report be withdrawn for consensus among committee members between now and Monday next week, with a re-presentation on Tuesday in plenary.

As a result, Omo-Agege put the proposal to a vote by voice, and the majority of Senators agreed.

Senators Akpan Bassey (Chairman), Yusuf A. Yusuf, Solomon Adeola, Kabiru Gaya, Mohammed Aliero, George Sekibo, Gabriel Suswam, Kashim Shettima, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, Ali Ndume, Stella Oduah, Sani Musa, and Ibrahim Gobir were members of the committee when it was formed in April.