‘Correct the mistake’ — group asks Akpabio to appoint senate committee chair from Delta

A group known as the Niger Delta Development Agenda (NDDA) says Senate President Godswill Akpabio should appoint a senator from Delta state to head one of the standing committees of the red chamber.

Akpabio recently announced the chairpersons of 74 standing committees in the senate but no lawmaker from Delta state made the list.

The senators from the state are Ned Nwoko (Delta north), Joel Onowakpo (Delta south), and Ede Edafinone (Delta central).

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Iteveh Nur’ Ekpokpobe, NDDA’s convener, said Delta is too important to be excluded from the composition of heads of committees.

“We are yet to understand the rationale behind the senate president’s decision, but one thing we are sure of is that it is not because Delta state presented less qualified senators,” Ekpokpobe said.

“With all humility, we can say authoritatively that Delta state is unquestionably blessed with very accomplished senators namely Senator Ned Nwoko (Delta North), Senator Joel Onowakpo (Delta South) and Senator Ede Edafinone.

“These are men who have distinguished themselves in their various walks of life and have very sizable resumes as testaments to their contributions to the development of Nigeria and the world at large.”

The convener asked the senate president to correct the “mistake”.

“Ordinarily, if two committees are allocated to the 36 states each, there would still be two more to go.

“This means invariably that there is really no reason why a state cannot get at least one committee.

“We also wish to state here, categorically, that a state like Delta state is too important in the scheme of things in Nigeria to be relegated so much so.

“We look forward to a kind and swift response of the senate leadership, in order to avert unnecessary agitators that may degenerate to breakdown of law and order in the region.”