This came as the Speaker, Honourable
Aminu Tambuwal, said the House, as a law-abiding institution, would obey the
court order which ruled that status quo be maintained as far as the leadership
position of the House was concerned.
The court had ruled that status quo
be maintained, pending the determination of the suit challenging the
defection of 37 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All
Progressives Congress (APC).
The commotion in the House started
shortly after the Speaker, Honourable Tambuwal, read his opening speech and a
member, Honourable Aliyu Madaki, one of the defecting representatives, moved a
motion on matter of urgent public importance, where he called on the House to
step into the crises rocking Rivers State.
In his motion, Honourable Madaki
asked the House to urge President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the Inspector
General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, within two weeks, over the crises in
the state and, as well, asked that the Police Service Commission (PSC) should
relieve the Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr Joseph Mbu and made him face
disciplinary action over his role in the crises.
However, the deputy leader of the
House, Honourable Leo Ogor, raised a point of order and cautioned his
colleagues on the motion introduced by Honourable Madaki, saying that if passed
by the House, it might become an embarrassment.
He then suggested that in taking the
motion, fair hearing should be given to the embattled commissioner of police.
To this end, the Minority Leader,
Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, also raised a point of order, ostensibly to
counter Honourable Ogor, where he said that responsibility of government was
the welfare and security of its citizenry and subsequently referred to
Honourable Ogor as “deputy minority leader.”
Honourable Ogor challenged Honourable
Gbajabiamila for referring to him as “deputy minority leader” and Gbajabiamila
retorted back, saying “after all, you are...”
The development caused rowdiness in
the chamber and the proceeding was halted for about 20 minutes, as the duo
engaged each other in a shouting match.
Lawmakers from both PDP and APC moved
towards where both principal officers of the House were seated and were
shouting in defence of their party, with shouts of APC! PDP! in the chamber.
After normalcy was restored, the
Speaker, who termed Honourable Gbajabiamila’s reference to Honourable Ogor as
“a very expensive New Year joke,” said “I was taken aback when he (Honourable
Gbajabiamila), a very senior lawyer and senior member of the House, presented a
very expensive New Year joke.”
The speaker then called on Honourable
Gbajabiamila to explain what he meant by referring to Honourable Ogor as
“deputy minority leader.”
Honourable Gbajabiamila, in his
explanation, however, stood by his statement, saying that it was a statement of
fact.
Honourable Gbajabiamila then moved
towards Honourable Ogor to shake hands with him and told the Speaker that “as
you can see, there is no problem between me and Honourable Leo Ogor.”
He then told the Speaker that “in
respect to your office, I will refer to Honourable Leo Ogor as Honourable Leo
Ogor.”
Honourable Tambuwal later told
members that the House had been served with the interim court order and
cautioned that “we should be the last to disobey the court order, no matter the
disagreement anyone of us is having with it.”
He then alluded to the role the court
played in the annulment of 1992 election reportedly won by the late Chief MKO
Abiola, saying that due to court injunction, “the electoral umpire did not
pronounce him as the president, what we later hear is that the election is the
most free and fair election in Nigeria.”
He then appealed to his colleagues
not to allow themselves to be used to derail democracy, noting that if anything
happened to democracy in the country, the parliament would be worst hit.
Tambuwal also implored members on the
need to continue to work together as one, irrespective of party affiliation,
saying that “please, we should continue to hold ourselves and continue to work
together for the betterment of Nigeria.”
However, the contentious motion moved
by Honourable Madaki was later referred to House committees on Rules and
Business and Justice and Judiciary, before the House would vote on it.
Earlier, the speaker, in his welcome
speech, had said “the entire political space is already saturated with politics
and politicking. However, as we have always maintained, now more than ever
before is the time to remain focused on our legislative functions.”
On 2014 budget estimates, he berated
the presidency on the late submission of the appropriation bill, noting that
“we have continued to express our concern over late budget presentation, which
often leads to late passage.
“Poor budget implementation by the
executive over the years has continued to test the patience and tolerance of
office holders’ commitment to the welfare of Nigerians.
“It is important to note that early
commencement of budget implementation is of the essence in ensuring full,
efficient and effective programme execution.”
The House, according to him, would
ensure due diligence and scrutiny in the realisation of pro-people budget,
adding that it would work to pass the 2014 appropriation bill expeditiously.
The Speaker equally called for
financial autonomy for the judicial arm of government, noting that “legal
autonomy without financial autonomy will not deliver the truly independent
judiciary that we crave for.”
He said since 2014 is an election
year, the judiciary would be inundated with election cases, in addition to
their normal workload, adding that “we will, therefore, be counting on the
cooperation of our colleagues in the Senate towards the realisation of this
objective.”
The speaker also called for caution
on happenings in the polity, especially, “the two incidents in Rivers State,
the one in Ogun and the other in Borno,” adding that these must be eschewed if
we hoped to continue to deepen democracy.
“The situation in Rivers State is
lamentable, because the joint resolutions of the Senate and House of
Representatives aimed at dousing the tensed political atmosphere have been ignored
and today, we are having a situation of gradual relapse into anarchy,” he said.
Tambuwal, therefore, tasked
politicians in the country “to avoid recourse to unlawful and violent means of
projecting our political interest and ambitions,” adding that “rather, let us
adopt peaceful advocacy and networking. It has worked in other jurisdictions
and it can work here if we give it a chance.”
Honourable Madaki is my law maker of 2014 for moving a legitimate motion to avert imminent anarchy in a state that is not his. Odor is a disgrace to our south south and God will punish him and his sponsor , Jonathan .
ReplyDeleteWhen then will the Court handover Majority Leadership to APC if not now? Hmn Nigeria Judiciary Carefull o o heee.Leaders of tomorrow are watching u guys wifh Coner Eyes oo
ReplyDelete