Senator Titus Zam, Chairman of the Senate Committee on the North Central Development Commission (NCDC), has clarified that Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP-Kogi) is not a member of his committee, contrary to her recent claims.
Zam, representing Benue North-West, issued the statement in Abuja on Tuesday in response to Akpoti-Uduaghan’s allegation that her name was omitted from the attendance register of the committee.
The committee recently held its budget defence with the management of the commission. Akpoti-Uduaghan reportedly expressed frustration over her absence from the attendance list.
In his clarification, Zam emphasized that the Kogi Central senator was never a member of the committee and therefore was not invited to the budget defence meeting.
“She’s not a member of the committee and was not invited to the budget defence meeting. Two senators from Kogi are members: Sen. Isah Jibrin, my vice-chairman, and Sen. Sunday Karimi,” Zam stated.
He added that Akpoti-Uduaghan arrived several hours after the meeting to raise the complaint, prompting him to advise her to approach the Senate Committee on Selection for redress.
Zam also noted that many senators from the North-Central zone are not members of the NCDC committee due to the rotation of senators across committees to reflect national representation. He cited Sen. Pam Mwadkon from Plateau State as another example of a non-member.
“She, as usual, ignorantly claimed that being from North-Central Nigeria, she ought to have been a member. A brief argument ensued, and she left my office after I advised her on the proper channel,” Zam concluded.
