Reps livid at absence of service chiefs, IGP at plenary session

The House of Representatives on Thursday rebuffed the representatives of the Service Chiefs at its plenary session, insisting that the heads of the security agencies must appear in person on Nov. 21.

The Speaker of the House, Mr Tajudeen Abbas, said the House would not encourage or accept representation due to the sensitivity of their engagement with the lawmakers.

“Please convey our message to your service chiefs that we understand the tight schedule they have, and we are willing to make an adjustment to reschedule this engagement till Tuesday next week for them to appear in person,” he said.

Persecondnews recalls that the House had invited the service chiefs for a dialogue on the security challenges in the country.

The lawmakers were, however, disappointed over the inability of the service chiefs to attend the session in person.

The Deputy Speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu, had raised a point of order, citing Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution.

He said: “It (the constitution) empowers the House to invite anybody, the House has extended invitation to the heads of security agencies not for the purpose of investigation but for dialogue to explain what is going on around that space.

“It is not satisfactory that they are not here in person. I want to move that these sectoral engagements be suspended until the service chiefs come to address us personally.”