Reps to screen service chiefs Monday

The House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee to screen the recently appointed Service Chiefs will on Monday engage the appointees as part of its assignment.

The panel, headed by the chairman of the Committee on Defence in the 9th House, Rep. Babajimi Benson (APC, Lagos), was constituted last Tuesday.

Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D, who announced the setting up of the panel at plenary, said all the eight principal officers of the House from the majority and minority parties would be part of the ad hoc committee.

The Majority Caucus has Hon. (Prof.) Julius Ihonvbere (APC, Edo) as Majority Leader; Hon. Abdullahi Ibrahim Halims (APC, Kogi), Deputy Majority Leader; Hon. Bello Usman Kumo (APC, Gombe), Chief Whip; and Hon. Adewunmi Oriyomi Onanuga (APC, Ogun) as Deputy Chief Whip.

The Minority Caucus equally has Hon. Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers) as Minority Leader; Hon. Aliyu Sani Madaki (NNPP, Kano), Deputy Minority Leader; Hon. Ali Isa (PDP, Gombe), Minority Whip; and Hon. George Ozodinobi (LP, Anambra) as Deputy Minority Whip.

Consequently, the ad hoc panel has scheduled a screening session with the newly appointed Service Chiefs on Monday, July 17, 2023.

The appointees billed for screening by the committee are Maj. Gen. C.G Musa as Chief of Defence Staff; Maj. Gen. T. A. Lagbaja as Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral E. A. Ogalla as Chief of Naval Staff and Air Vice Marshal H.B. Abubakar as Chief of Air Staff.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had on June 19 approved the immediate retirement of the former Service Chiefs, the ex-Inspector-General of Police and the ex-Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service and appointed their successors.

The president had conveyed the nominations and request for confirmation to the National Assembly via a letter dated July 5, 2023, addressed to the president of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D.