Senate Committee Chairman on Special duties, Senator Yusuf
Yusuf on Friday during the budget defence of the North East Development
Commission sent journalists out of the session.
Yusuf Yusuf through the administrative Clerk to the
Committee, Kabir Yaba Umar ordered that no journalist should cover the session
except the NTA, even when Senate Press Corps was officially invited for the
session.
The newly established North East Development Commission,
NEDC, and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs were expected
to tell Nigerians how funds intended to be appropriated to them would be spent.
At a point, Umar who personally signed invitation letter to
Media men became unruly, insisting that Chairman of the Committee did not want
journalists to cover the defence of the session scheduled for 2 and 4pm
respectively.
Members of the Committee included a former Senate Leader,
Ali Ndume, a former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, former governor
of Yobe State, Ibrahim Geidam and the Senator representing Adamawa North,
Elisha Abbo, among others.
Umar dared the reporters to write whatever they like when
reminded that he invited them.
He said: “I have already told your colleagues who had been
here before you that you guys are not wanted here. I have the directive of the
Chairman to do what I’m doing.”
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, had on Monday
denied that Senate committees were organising secret budget defence sessions
with ministries and agencies of government.
He had said it was share misrepresentation of fact to say
that journalists were not allowed to cover the budget defence sessions going on
at the National Assembly.
Reacting to reports published in some dailies, he said:
“There is no shut out of the press from what we do,” Lawan said in a statement
by his Special Adviser on Media, Ola Awoniyi.
“We need the press to tell Nigerians what we are doing. You
(journalists) are our friends. That was a misunderstanding (of what happened).”
The Senate President said it should be expected that
journalists, at some point, may be excused from such meetings when sensitive
issues that bother on national security were being discussed after the opening
had been done.
“I want to assure Nigerians that whatever we do in this
Senate and indeed in this National Assembly is in the best interest of Nigeria.
We will not compromise on anything as far as the national interest is
concerned,” Lawan said.
The Senate standing order 2015, as amended states in chapter
8(102) on rules of procedure for committees in general states:
“Each hearing inducted by each committee or Sub-committee
thereof shall be open to the public. “
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