Teddy Oscar, Abuja
The House of Representatives resumed sitting on Tuesday, after its Christmas and New Year holiday on a negative note as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers squared it up with their All Progressive Congress (APC) colleagues.
Trouble began shortly after Hon. Aliyu Sani Madaki moved a motion entitled: ‘the urgent need to save our nascent democracy’. In his submission to a point of order that was earlier raised by Hon. Leo Ogor, majority leader of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, deputy minority leader referred to Ogor as the ‘deputy minority leader’ instead the ‘majority leader of the House’.
The floor took into a rowdy session as PDP lawmakers demanded that Gbajabiamila withdrew his statement.
For nearly half an hour, the rowdiness continued as Gbajabiamila, backed by APC lawmakers, was adamant to retract his comment, which he said was a statement of fact.
Gbajabiamila, who denied any quarrel with Ogor, added that his submission was based on House Order 36.
“I was making a submission when I referred to Honourable Leo Ogor as the deputy minority leader. I took cognisance of the statement of fact based on Order 36 of the House. There is no quarrel between the two of us. I will now refer to him as Honourable Leo Ogor,” he said.
With his intervention to bring the House under control, the speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, pointed out that the House should maintain the status quo pending the outcome of the court suit, which was filed by PDP.
The suit ordered members of the House to refrain from changing or taking steps to change the leadership of the legislative body.
Reminding the lawmakers that the House was very key to the stability of democracy, Tambuwal added that the House should be the last institution to disobey the court order.
“As lawmakers, we should be the last institution to disobey the court order. Let us continue as leaders to manage the emerging trends in the polity. We should exercise caution and work for the interest of the country.
“The House is very key to the stability of the country and so let us not use the mandate given by our people to undermine what is dear to them,” he said.
Meanwhile, there were some defections on the floor of the House during Tuesday’s plenary as two members from Adamawa State (Hon. Haske Hananiya and Hon. Ganama Kwaga) defected from APC to PDP.
Similarly, Hon. Emmanuel Jime from Benue State formally defected from PDP to APC, while Hon. Suleiman Kwande from Plateau State defected from the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) to APC.
