House Members Accuse Ihedioha Of Autocratic Rule

Some members of the House of Representatives almost exchanged blows with the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, on Thursday over what they described as his “autocratic leadership style.”

A number of lawmakers also staged a walkout on Ihedioha from the chambers, as they protested against his ruling on a bill.

The members later waited for the deputy speaker as he made to leave the chambers, resulting in Ihedioha and the lawmakers exchanging hot words.

The contentious bill sought “an Act to amend the Industrial Training Fund for the purpose of empowering the Fund to design, set up and operate guidelines for the training, certification nationwide at state, local government and ward levels and to establish areas registries for maintaining up to date registers of certified artisans and technicians in all fields and in all parts of the federation.”

The bill was sponsored by Mr. Chudi Uwazurike, a member from Imo State.

Problem started after the debate ended and Ihedioha called for a voice vote.

He called for the vote twice and ruled after the second call in favour of the second reading of the bill.

He immediately referred it to the Committee on Industries.

However, the protesting lawmakers insisted that it was the “nays”, meaning to reject the bill, that won the voice vote.

To show their displeasure over Ihedioha’s action, many of them picked their files and walked out of the chambers.

In the midst of the protest, a member from Kano State, Mr. Ali Madaki, observed that what the deputy speaker should have done was to divide the House for members to be counted physically.

He noted that according to House rules, whenever there is confusion in determining whether it is the “ayes” or the “nays” that win a voice vote, the House is normally divided into halves.

One of the lawmakers, Mr. Tijiani Abdulkadir, confronted the deputy speaker as he tried to leave the chambers.

He moved closer and said, “You cannot continue this type of attitude in this House.

“You have to respect our opinion because we are all representatives of the people.”

Another angry female member, Mrs. Aisha Ahmed, expressed her opposition, saying, “We cannot seat here all day and our opinion will not be taken into consideration by the presiding officer.

“Nobody was elected as a presiding officer from his constituency; they were all voted here on the floor. This is bad and it has to stop.”

The deputy speaker walked passed, but Abdullahi again confronted him on the corridor, still complaining over his leadership style.

At this point, Ihedioha lost his temper and shouted at him, “Keep shut. I say keep shut!

“You impugn motives into everything we do on the floor of the House. We don’t have any interest in this bill.”

Abdullahi also responded,  “The way things are done in this House is wrong. You cannot continue to treat us this way. We deserve to be respected because we are not anybody’s children.”

The protesting members and Ihedioha continued to exchange words along the corridor, creating a scene in the process.

National Assembly employees and visitors involuntarily gathered to watch the ensuing exchange of hot words.

It took the intervention of Mr. Friday Itula, a lawmaker from Edo State, and Mr. Sekonte Davies, a member from Rivers State, to calm down the angry legislators.