 committee, clarifying her omission from a recent budget defence session.){kind=link}
Senator Titus Zam, Chairman of the Senate Committee on the North Central Development Commission (NCDC), has dismissed allegations by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi Central that she was unfairly excluded from the committee.
In a statement on Tuesday, Zam clarified that Natasha is not a member of the NCDC committee and was never invited to the budget defence meeting with the commission’s management.
The controversy began on Monday when Natasha alleged that her name had been removed from the committee’s attendance register.
She reportedly confronted the committee clerk and later visited Zam’s office seeking an explanation, resulting in a tense exchange.
According to Natasha’s media aide, Mike Idoko, aides to the committee chairman allegedly seized her cinematographer’s phone and engaged in verbal hostility, a claim Zam did not directly address.
Zam emphasized that the committee includes only two senators from Kogi State Senator Isah Jibrin, vice-chairman, and Senator Sunday Karimi while other North-Central senators, including Natasha, are not members due to the Senate’s national distribution policy for development commissions.
“Many senators from North-Central are not members because senators from other zones are integrated for national character purposes,” Zam said, citing Plateau’s Senator Pam Mwadkon as another example.
He urged Natasha to lodge any further complaints with the Senate Committee on Selection, reiterating that her claim of entitlement to membership was ignorant.
The incident highlights ongoing tensions among lawmakers over committee assignments and regional representation within the Senate.