Osinbajo meets House leadership
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo Thursday night met the leadership of the House of Representatives over the state of the nation.
The meeting was held at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja, but details were scanty as at press time.
Highly placed Presidency sources told our correspondent that the meeting was at the instance of the acting president.
One of the sources described the meeting as a “consultation” with the leadership of the House over critical national issues.
Another source hinted that Osinbajo would seize the opportunity to brief the House leadership on his Tuesday’s meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in London.
Our sources could not confirm whether Osinbajo would hold similar meeting with Senate leaders, but the acting president met with Senate President, Bukola Saraki last week.
It was also not clear whether the acting president only met with Speaker Yakubu Dogara, as some of the principal officers of the lower chamber, including Deputy Speaker Yussuf Suleimon Lasun; House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila; Chief Whip, Alhassan Ado Doguwa and Deputy Chief Whip, Pally Iriase, were in Lagos yesterday ahead of a joint National Assembly retreat on the ongoing constitution amendment are.
There are several other members of the House, who are part of the ad-hoc committee on the constitution amendment, attending the retreat. The House ad-hoc panel is chaired by Lasun.
It was gathered that they met with Governor Akinwumi Ambode last night ahead of the commencement of the retreat today.
Meanwhile, sources in the presidency had also listed the delay in the inauguration of the two new ministers-designate as an agenda for the meeting.
The House had on Tuesday, asked Osinbajo to swear in Stephen Ocheni (Kogi) and Suleiman Hassan (Gombe) within one week.
The two were confirmed by the Senate in May. Ocheni is to replace the late former Labour Minister, James Ocholi; while is to replace former Environment Minister, Amina Mohammed who joined the United Nations as Deputy Secretary-General.
The acting president had stated on Wednesday that he was not in a position to disclose when the two ministers-designate would be sworn in Our sources could not confirm whether Osinbajo would hold similar meeting with Senate leaders, but the acting president met Senate President, Bukola Saraki last week.
It was also not clear whether the acting president only met Speaker Yakubu Dogara, as some of the principal officers of the lower chamber, including Deputy Speaker Yussuf Suleimon Lasun; House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila; Chief Whip, Alhassan Ado Doguwa and Deputy Chief Whip, Pally Iriase, were in Lagos yesterday ahead of a joint National Assembly retreat on the ongoing constitution amendment.
There are several other members of the House, who are part of the ad-hoc committee on the constitution amendment, attending the retreat. The House ad-hoc panel is chaired by Lasun.
It was gathered that they met Governor Akinwumi Ambode last night ahead of the commencement of the retreat today.
Another source said though the meeting was on the cards he couldn’t confirm it.
Meanwhile, sources in the presidency had also listed the delay in the inauguration of the two new ministers-designate as an agenda for the meeting.
The House had on Tuesday, asked Osinbajo to swear in Stephen Ocheni (Kogi) and Suleiman Hassan (Gombe) within one week.
The two were confirmed by the Senate in May. Ocheni is to replace the late former Labour Minister, James Ocholi; while Hassan is to replace former Environment Minister, Amina Mohammed who joined the United Nations as Deputy Secretary-General.
The acting president had stated on Wednesday that he was not in a position to disclose when the two ministers-designate would be sworn in.
Osinbajo said he and President Buhari did not discuss anything like the swearing-in of the ministers-designate.
Ocheni and Hassan were confirmed by the Senate over two months ago. Ocheni is to replace the late former Minister of State for Labour, James Ocholi; while Hassan is to replace Amina Mohammed who resigned as Minister of Environment to become the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General.
“No! We didn’t discuss swearing or anything like that,” the acting president told journalists Thursday.
Asked when will they be sworn in, he said: “Well, I’m not in a position to say anything. I don’t have a date in mind, but I am sure, very, very soon, we will do that.”
Osinbajo said he could not go into the specifics of all his discussions with Buhari, saying “wide ranging issues, I really can’t go into specifics of all of the discussions we had.” (Daily Trust)
