Reps scramble for ‘juicy’ committees

The House has just come out of a bruising fight over leadership positions that stalled sittings for seven weeks.
On Thursday, the House appointed a Selection Committee, saddled with the responsibility of nominating chairmen of about 89 standing committees.
But observers still feel that Speaker Yakubu Dogara has to navigate carefully as he names chairmen of committees especially those referred to as “juicy.”

They include committees on appropriation, finance, House services and welfare, defence, public accounts, education, army, air force, navy, petroleum (upstream and downstream), marine transport, customs and excise, FCT, works and health.
Others are foreign affairs, MDGs, NDDC, pensions, power, public procurement, housing and habitat.
But Daily Trust gathered that the challenge for the Speaker is how he will share the positions fairly among the two camps – those that voted for him and the ones that backed his rival, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Dogara, although of the majority APC, was voted into office by members of the opposition PDP who sources said were waiting to be rewarded.
A lawmaker privy to the intense lobbying told Daily Trust that the main battle is for committees such as appropriation, public accounts, education and marine transport.
The lawmaker said there might be disappointments particularly on the part of lawmakers   from both APC and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whom Dogara had promised to appoint to chair some committees.
“What I want to tell you is that the area of problem will begin at the Reps and at the Senate because it is going to be difficult to fulfil promises made to individual members and groups.
“They (presiding officers) have made a lot of promises to individual members, to those who were supporting them. They made a lot of promises and it is going to be difficult for them to keep those promises because of the realities on the ground.
“What I want you to understand is that it will bring problem because it is difficult for him to fulfil those promises. Some members had supported camps based on the promises of juicy committees made to them.
“Let me tell you some of the committees: one is appropriation, another one is public account. Public account is supposed to go to the opposition. That is the constitutional requirement. It has to go to opposition and now chances are the speaker may have promised one or two or three people that kind of committee and he may not be in position to deliver on such promises. It can’t be possible.
“Then there are other committees like marine, education, upstream, downstream of petroleum. These are things that can create problems in the future. It will be another round of problem for the House,” said the lawmaker, who is from the South East.
Another lawmaker from the North confirmed the intense lobby for the chairmanship of juicy committees   by some lawmakers to Daily Trust, saying some lawmakers may be aggrieved after the exercise.
“It is true; some members are putting intense energy in lobbying. You know politics is all about lobby for you to get what you want. It will pay some of them, but people will be disappointed actually, because you cannot divide the committees and give it to everybody. You will only give the chairmanship to one person. Inevitably, you must displease some along the way.
“You know power is always being chased, but we the new lawmakers are not much conversant with their politicking on committees’ chairmanship selection. For instance, when I told a colleague of the committee I would prefer to be part of, he laughed at me. May be he thought I didn’t even know what I should be craving for, while I fully know my reasons.
“The committees I mentioned to him were federal character, water resources and health, because those are the areas that I want to make impact to my constituents. But you know other people are looking for juicy ones like petroleum, house services, appropriation, marine etc. These are the hotbed committees which members who want money are desperately lobbying for.
“There has also been the allegation that some members supported either of the camps because of the promise of committees. I don’t think it is true, because I was part of the campaign proper and I don’t think there was any promise to any member,” said the lawmaker.
Prior to the June 9 inauguration, both Dogara and his main challenger, who is now House leader, Femi Gbajabiamila had their strong supporters, who were thought to be eying one juicy committee or the other.
Those who  have been close to Dogara among APC members from the campaign days to date include Nasiru Baballe Ila (APC, Kano), Ibrahim Babangida Mahuta (APC, Katsina), Zakari Mohammed (APC, Kwara), Mohammed Umar Bago (APC, Niger), Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC, Kano), Abdulrazak Namdas (APC, Adamawa), Halliru Dauda Jika (APC, Bauchi), Gbillah Mark Terseer (APC, Benue), Herman Hembe (APC, Benue), Jagaba Adams Jagaba (APC, Kaduna), Ahman-Pategi Bahago (APC, Kwara) among others.
As for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers, almost all of them have been with Dogara as they voted for him massively during the June 9 inauguration.
However, those among them that were seen to be very close to him include Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje (PDP, Abia), Nkeiruka Onyejeocha (PDP, Abia), Uzoma Nkem-Abonta (PDP, Abia), Obinna Chidoka (PDP, Anambra), Linus Okorie (PDP, Ebonyi), Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu), Pat Asadu (PDP, Enugu), Samson Okwu (PDP, Benue) and Jones Onyereri (PDP, Imo).
In the case of Gbajabiamila, the APC Reps who supported him strongly were Aliyu Sani Madaki (APC, Kano), Muhammad Sani Abdu (APC, Bauchi), Tarkighir Dickson Dominic (APC, Benue), Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki (APC, Gombe), Ahmed Rufai Chanchangi (APC, Kaduna), Ismaila Suleiman (APC, Kaduna), Mohammed Sani Zorro (APC, Jigawa), Mohammed Gudaji Kazaure (APC, Jigawa), Munnir Babba Dan’agundi (APC, Kano), Nasiru Sani Zangon-Daura (APC, Katsina), among many others.
It was learnt that it may be difficult to strike a balance between the two camps of both Dogara and Gbajabiamila in terms of committee chairmanship, although they said last week that they had resolved their differences.
Additionally, Dogara is expected to accommodate PDP lawmakers who contributed immensely to his emergence, after he defeated Gbajabiamila with a slim margin of 8 votes, at 182 votes to Gbajabiamila’s 174.
The House selection committee has statutory members with the speaker as chairman, deputy speaker as deputy chairman. Other statutory members of the committee are House leader, deputy House leader, chief whip, deputy chief whip, minority leader, deputy minority leader, minority whip and deputy minority whip.
Dogara had announced state representatives as   follow: Tata Umar (Bauchi), Emmanuel Udende (Benue), Satumari Jibril (Borno), Mutu Nicholas (Delta), Adekola Segun (Ekiti), Patrick Asadu (Enugu), Zaphaniah Jisalo (FCT), Asihatu Dukku (Gombe), Goodluck Opiah (Imo), Mohammed Sani Zorro (Jigawa), Tajuddeen Abbas (Kaduna), Mustapha Bala Dawaki (Kano), Babangida Ibrahim (Katsina), Husseini Kangiwa (Kebbi) and Benjamin Ikani Okolo (Kogi).
Others are Abubakar Garba (Kwara), Yakubu Balogun (Lagos), Mohammed Onawo (Nasarawa), Umar Bago (Niger), Timothy Golu (Plateau), Abdulsamad Dasuki (Sokoto), Linus Okorie (Ebonyi).