Devolution of power committee in heated exchange over “lack of progress”

By Hassan Haruna Ginsau

The National Conference’s Committee on devolution of power witnessed a heated exchange yesterday, between members over the alleged lack of progress made by the committee.

Chief Adeniyi Akintola, a delegate representing Oyo state, lamented the lack of progress made by the committee in regards to the actual issue of devolution of power.

He went on to say that the committee had “achieved nothing” since it started work a week ago.

In what turned into a harsh verbal exchange, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, in defence of the committee, told Akintola to “shut up”, noting that he (mantu) had been involved in “this important national assignment” from the beginning, adding that Akintola could walk out of the committee if he so wished.

Said Mantu: “We cannot sit here and somebody will say he wants to walk out, if you want to walk out, nobody is forcing you to sit here, you came here with your own legs, and if you feel you can’t be here you can leave.”

In an attempt to restore order, the committee’s co-chairman, Ibrahim Coomassie urged restraint, reminding members of the large volume of work ahead of them.

“If a delegate feels we’ve achieved nothing, it’s unfortunate. But i think we’ve achieved a considerable amount of work,” said Coomassie

Committee work commenced last Tuesday, with delegates shared across 20 standing committees.

The 3 months allotted for the conference has drawn many delegates to complain of lack of sufficient time to address all the pressing National issues they have been tasked with tackling.