PDP,APC Reps Members In Rowdy War Of Words Over Leadership

 Representatives, on Tuesday, resumed from its break to witness a rowdy session over leadership position in the House.

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.”