Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal

There is a change of tune in the House of Representatives on the report of the National Conference, which ended in August.

Members have denied seeing the report, contrary to a position given on Thursday last week by the House spokesman, Mr. Zakari Mohammed.

Mohammed had, while addressing reporters at the National Assembly, disclosed that members were in possession of a “compressed” copy of the report and were studying it.

However, he had clarified that the report had not come in the form of an Executive Bill yet from President Goodluck Jonathan for any action by the National Assembly.

But, there was a change of tune on Sunday when some House members, including principal officers, denied being in possession of the document.

The members expressed surprise over the claim that the confab report had been sent to the House.

The Deputy House Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, pointedly denied seeing the report.

“You can quote me because I should know if the conference report has been transmitted to us by Mr. President. There is no report before the House. In any case, Mr. President will not send the report in hiding; he will formally communicate with the House,” Ogor, a Peoples Democratic Party member from Delta State, explained.

When our correspondent contacted the House Minority Whip, Mr. Sampson Osagie, he simply replied, “I am not aware of the report.”

Osagie, an All Progressives Congress lawmaker from Edo State, said he was not aware that the report had been presented to the House.

“Except it is with the Clerk, I don’t know. For me, I am not aware that there is any report,” he stated.

The position of the Chairman, House Committee on Rules/Business, Mr. Albert Sam-Tsokwa, is not different.

Sam-Tsokwa plans the business of the House and heads the committee that is in charge of listing reports or bills for debate and consideration by members.

He told our correspondent that the report could only come to the National Assembly by way of “official communication from Mr. President.”

He explained that as of Friday, no such communication had been received from Jonathan.

“The report you are talking about is voluminous and may even require a truck to carry the copies. We don’t have it yet, I have not seen it and it is not in the House to the best of my knowledge.” Sam-Tsokwa added.

However, a source told our correspondent that it was possible that some members might have the abridged version for their personal use and not in an official format yet.

“It is possible some members got the copies on their own just to read. This doesn’t suggest that it is before the House for any action officially yet. It has to come formally from the President, which hasn’t happened yet,” the source explained.

The source recalled that Jonathan had set up another committee to study the conference report and make recommendations to the government on how to take further action on it.

“That presidential report is still working and I think it is after that committee has concluded its assignment that the President can begin to think about sending the report officially to the legislature. Will he jump the gun when his committee is still working?,” the source asked.

Our correspondent made fruitless efforts to reach Mohammed again to speak further on the issue.

Click here to read from source.