The last is yet to be heard of the controversy surrounding the dissolution of the joint ad-hoc committee probing the importation of adulterated petroleum products into the country and other infractions in the nation’s oil and gas sector by the leadership of the House of Representatives (Reps).

The lower chamber on Wednesday expressed concerns over speculations in some sections of the media following the dissolution of the panel.

The joint committee, headed by Rep. Ikenga Ugochinyere (Imo) and Rep. Henry Okojie (Edo), was disbanded on Monday via a statement signed by the spokesperson of the House of Reps, Akin Rotimi Jnr.

READ ALSO: ‘24,816 people killed, 15,597 kidnapped in Nigeria in five years’

Until now, the committee was tasked with investigating alleged importation of adulterated petroleum products, the non-availability of crude oil for domestic refineries, and other critical energy security issues.

However, since its inauguration, the committee has been enmeshed with controversies, which culminated in serious divisions among the Members of the 10th House of Reps, with some calling for the head of the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, and Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA); while others called for an impartial probe and warned colleagues against being partisan.

There have also been allegations of inducement for the appointment of a committee chairman and a rift between Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and his deputy, Benjamin Kalu.

Rotimi, in a statement on Wednesday, however, clarified that the action by the leadership of the House was to ensure efficacy, independence, and effectiveness of the investigation.

The House of Reps spokesman observed that the lower chamber has its internal working mechanisms enabled by Section 60 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which provides that “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Senate or the House of Representatives shall have power to regulate its own procedure, including the procedure for summoning and recess of the House.”

He maintained that the leadership of the House reserves the right to disband and dissolve an ad hoc committee whenever the need arises, adding that the action taken by the House to dissolve the Ad Hoc Committee on Oil and Gas Investigation did not contravene any rule of the House or any law of the land.

The Reps spokesman added: “At no time did the House leadership or anybody for that matter receive inducement for the appointment of any committee chairman. It was an assignment diligently executed by the Selection Committee of the House between June and July 2023, which has a member from each of the states of the federation.

“That there is no rift whatsoever between the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker regarding this or any matter; the duo enjoys a robust and cordial relationship. The two Presiding Officers also have mutual respect for each other and will not allow anything to come between them.

“The public should therefore disregard the speculations making the rounds in some sections of the media, stating that the House operates an open-door policy, and will remain open to the Nigerian public and the media regarding its activities.”

In a similar vein, a coalition of Civil Society Organizations in the oil and gas sector said Abbas has written his name in the “golden book of the National Assembly” for disbanding the committee.

The groups, under the auspices of Coalition for Energy Transformation, Integrity, and Transparency (CETIT), in a statement jointly signed by Engr. Godknows Joseph, Comrade Ayoola Daramola, and Barr. Musa Akilu, bemoaned the perceived “partisanship of the joint committee,” saying, “it was wrong for Members of the House to preemptively take positions even before the probe could be done and concluded.”

According to the organisations, the development was going to set the entire House of Representatives on fire and it was of great danger to the institution of the National Assembly, so revered.

They contended that “under normal circumstances, the House Members should have been patriotic enough to place national interest above their personal interests, but everyone seemed to be speaking or acting according to what his or her interest was, while the committee was also perceived to be pursuing vendetta and the whole essence was defeated ab initio.”

“But for the swift intervention and the nationalistic approach of His Excellency, RT. Hon. Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, the whole thing would have snowballed into anarchy and the entire National Assembly institution would have been brought to international embarrassment, while the meat of the matter would have been left untouched, and the original intent why the committee was set up would have been defeated.”

“The decision of the Speaker was timely. We had met at the weekend in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and came to an agreement to officially address the press on Tuesday and unearth what we felt about the joint committee and some Members of the House and why the leadership of the House must, as a matter of urgent national importance, purge the House of such a Committee and allow a fresh and professional panel to handle the investigation. Failure to do this, we were going to mobilise thousands of our members in Abuja to occupy the National Assembly anytime the committee sat.

“But we woke up to the good news that the pragmatic and visionary Speaker Abbas has disbanded the Committee. The Coalition and the entire Nigerians are grateful for this. The Speaker has written his name in the golden book of the National Assembly, and this goes a long way to reaffirm that Nigerians can trust the 10th House. It portrays a House that has integrity. The 10th House is indeed the People’s House,” the Coalition added.