By Francis Etuko
Abujaa (Precise Post) – The Senate Committee on Power on Tuesday stepped down the nomination of Kogi state into the Board of the Hydro Power Producing Area Commission, (HYPERDEC) following a Petition signed by interested parties against the candidate, Isah Salami.
The committee had the assignment of screening nominees from nine candidates from states cutting across, Niger, Kwara, Kogi, Cross River, Benue, Kebbi, Sokoto and Plateau states.
While the nominee for Benue state who is to serve as the chairman of the governing board and two others who were once former members of the House of Representatives were accorded the benefit to bow and go in line with the tradition of the legislature, the nominee for Kogi, Isah Salami and Kwara , Taoheed Daudu were not so lucky as the former had his nomination stood down due to a petition from Serah Jibril and other interested parties who protested that the nominees confirmation will not serve the interests of Kogi and Kwara states on the HYPERDEC board.
The Kwara nominee, Taoheed Daudu has his nomination confirmed by the senate committee on Power led by Senator Gabriel Suswan who maintained that the petitions prefers against him had no basis, since the three senators from Kogi had showed Solidarity to the candidates nomination and had followed him to his office to show their unalloyed support. Also a letter was forwarded to Senator Suswams committee by the traditional ruler of Moro, Kwara state where Daudu hails from.
Speaking earlier on the petition raised against Isah Salami, a ranking senator, James Manager told the nominee that no lawmaker has anything against him, but the petition from Serah Jubril and some interested party suggests that the nominee is not known to them.
In his defense, Isah Salami told the committee that he hails from Adavi local government, which is home to O’gara dam which is just twenty five kilometers from his country home.
The Suswan led committee in trying to clarify the reason for stepping down Salami’s nomination pointed out to him that provisions of the HYPERDEC Act , section 31 (B) Number 6 states clearly that nominees into the Board of the commission must come from the affected communities.
Present at the screening process was the Deputy Whip of the Senate, Abdullahi Sabi who further educated the nominee that the intentment of the act is to compensate communities that holds the dams where hydro power is being produced. He pointed out that if it is generalised that all communities where there are dams should have nominees, the number for screening will be more that what the senate is having at present.
He said ‘ the inclusiom of Kogi state is because it is a confluence State’
