The Federal House of Representatives had a
rowdy session, yesterday, following the defection of two Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP members to ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, had read
the letters of the two defecting lawmakers, Ahmed Tijani of Kogi State and
Zaphaniah Jisalo of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, to other lawmakers on the
floor of the House.
However trouble, started when the acting
leader of the opposition, Yakubu Barde (PDP, Kaduna), stood up to challenge the
defection of his party members.
The Speaker while reading the letters of
defection noted that internal crisis in the state chapters of the PDP was cited
by the defecting lawmakers as reasons for their defection.
Barde, who cited provisions of the
constitution to buttress his point, argued that the actions of the lawmakers
were in contravention of the law since the PDP was no longer in crisis.
Barde’s argument was supported by Ossai
Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta) who noted that the House was an institution, which
members swore an oath to defend the constitution and, as such, should not
condone what was happening.
The opposing lawmakers, then demanded that
the speaker declared their seats vacant as a matter of moral and legal
obligation on his part.
While Ossai was making his submission,
members heard a voice calling him a fake lawyer and this led to shouts of “No,
No, No.”
Consequently, Diri Duoye (PDP, Bayelsa),
quickly raised a point of order, citing Order 5 Rule 7, noting that it was out
of order to use offensive words against anybody making a presentation on the
floor of the House.
He said: “An unreserved apology
by the lawmaker should be tendered immediately before the day’s proceedings can
continue.’’
Dogara at this point, requested that the
Chairman, Committee on Rules and Business, Emmanuel Orker-Jev, should
guide the House on what to do.
Orker-Jev while responding accused Ossai of
saying lawmakers were making noise, sparking echoes of “no! no!no!” by PDP
members.
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