TheCable

At least five children of former governors are among the members appointed to chair various standing committees of the house of representatives.

During the plenary session on Thursday, Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, announced the constitution of 134 standing committees in the green chamber.

The composition of the standing committees is in line with the provisions of the constitution and the house standing rules which empower the parliament to, through the committees, carry out oversight functions on government agencies and programmes and address specific issues of national importance.

Checks by TheCable show that five children of former governors are among the lawmakers named by the speaker to head the various committees.

They are Ibori Suenu, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member from Delta; Mohammed Bello el-Rufai, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker from Kaduna; and Adegboyega Adefarati of the APC from Ondo.

Others are two APC members from Oyo and Ogun — Olamiju Akala and Segun Osoba.

Mohammed is the son of Nasir el-Rufai, the immediate past governor of Kaduna, who is President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial nominee. 

Olumide is the son of Segun Osoba, former governor of Ogun, who ruled between 1992 and 2003.

Suenu is the daughter of James Ibori, former governor of Delta, who governed the south-south state from 1999 to 2007.

Adegboyega is the son of the late former governor of Ondo, Adebayo Adefarati. Adefarati was governor from 1999 to 2003.

Also, Olamiju is the son of the late Alao Akala, a former governor of Oyo.

Apart from Olumide — Mohammed, Suenu, Olamiju, and Adegboyega are all first-timers in the house of representatives.

Below are the committees the children of the former governors now head. 

• Suenu Ibori — Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) committee
• Mohammed Bello el-Rufai — Banking regulation committee
• Adegboyega Adefarati — Labour, employment and productivity committee
• Olamiju Akala — Youth in parliament committee
• Olumide Osoba — Justice committee