Daboya-Mankarigu MP, Shaibu Mahama, has taken a swipe at the Minority in Parliament, accusing them of staging their appearance before the Appointments Committee rather than engaging in a genuine vetting process.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, the MP claimed the Minority arrived with a predetermined plan that ultimately failed to hold up during proceedings.
“Clearly, the Minority came not to ask questions, but it came with a script. Unfortunately, they couldn’t mark the script,” he said.
He defended the Majority Leader’s conduct during the vetting, stressing that all actions taken were within parliamentary rules and procedures. “Every single act that the Majority Leader did was clearly in line with the rules and regulations that govern the proceedings of Parliament,” he maintained.
Shaibu Mahama explained that the Appointments Committee operates as an extension of Parliament, meaning the same parliamentary rules apply in both spaces.
“Indeed, the vetting committee or Appointments Committee is an extension of Parliament. So every rule that you will expect from Plenary is the same rule that is applied.
“And so if you raise issues that offend the rules, the Majority Leader has every single right to object to that,” he said.
He further criticized the Minority’s inconsistency in approach, pointing out that they initially signaled their absence before appearing unexpectedly.
“They did not come to the party. When you ask a question whether they had, they had announced that they were not even coming for the vetting. Then suddenly they appeared with the script. That script, unfortunately, they couldn’t mark it,” he added.
