SAN FRANCISCO, January 22, (THEWILL) – There was drama at Thursday’s sitting of the House of Representatives following the inauguration of a special ad hoc committee on the review of 1999 Constitution in the absence of the Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun, who chairs the committee.
Speaker of the House of Reps, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, despite reportedly delegating Lasun to represent him at a function at the Presidential Villa, went ahead to inaugurate the committee. With the non-availability of Lasun, the House Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila was asked to read the Deputy Speaker’s prepared text for the inauguration.
But by the time Lasun came in, he was shocked to learn that the event has been concluded, having thought that he would join the proceedings by the time he returns from that separate function. He was said to have expressed disappointment at the development which he said would portray him as a leader who abdicated his core responsibility in pursuit of other endeavours.
The visibly angry Deputy Speaker was also said to have confronted Dogara to know why the inauguration went ahead without him. He however left shortly after before the commencement of debates on the 2016 budget.
Earlier, the Speaker was thoroughly embarrassed by the lateness of lawmakers to the day plenary as he was the first to arrive at the venue of meeting only to meet an empty hall. A worried Dogara sat alone on the high table, wondering what made members fail to show up on time.
Out of the 50 committee members, only eight including the Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Mr. Oker Jev, and the Chairman, Committee on Public Petitions, Mr. Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, were seen hurrying to settle down just as Dogara took his seat.
With no one else on the high table, the Speaker resorted to chatting with his Chief of Staff, Mr. Jerry Manwe, before Gbajabiamila, who was late to the sitting, walked into the hall.
The late arrival of the members delayed the sitting till 10:45am from the originally scheduled time of 10am. This was as only 22 out of the 360 members were seated by 11:38 in the morning.
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