The Speaker of the
House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Wednesday named Ndudi Elumelu
as the House Minority Leader.
Mr Elumelu from
Delta State was named alongside Toby Okechukwu (Enugu) as Deputy Minority
Leader, Gideon Gwani as Minority Whip and Adesegun Adekoya as Deputy Minority
Whip.
The announcement was
vehemently rejected by many lawmakers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The opposition party
had in a letter announced Kingsley Chinda as its leader in the House.
The party also
nominated Chukwuka Onyema as Deputy Minority Leader, Yakubu Barde as Minority
Whip and Muraina Ajibola as Deputy Minority Whip.
The party’s decision
was contained in a letter dated June 26 and addressed to the speaker.
An acknowledged copy
of the letter sighted by PREMIUM TIMES was signed by its National Chairman,
Uche Secondus, and its Secretary, Umar Tsauri.
A similar letter
from the party was sent to the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, on the party’s
choice of Eyinnaya Abaribe as Senate Minority Leader.
Mr Lawan has since
announced the PDP nominees as minority leaders.
Mr Gbajabiamila,
unlike his Senate counterpart, however, announced different names for the
various minority leadership positions.
The PDP is the
largest minority party in the House. Both Messrs Chinda and Elumelu are members
of the party.
The PDP had asked
its members to vote against Mr Gbajabiamila when the latter was contesting for
the House leadership position. Many believe Mr Gbajabiamila’s action was his way
of getting back at the PDP.
Why Gbajabiamila
Acted
Mr Gbajabiamila
announced he received a letter from about 90 opposition lawmakers. He was then
interrupted with a ‘point of order’ by Mr Chinda.
Mr Chinda while
moving his point of order noted that where the house rules are not clear on
specific issues, precedence and practice are applied.
He said the practice
had been that the political parties write to the parliament.
“Collating
signatures to nominate leadership has never been the practice.”
He said the PDP had
forwarded a letter to the speaker with an acknowledgement to the office of the
speaker.
Mr Gbajabiamila
while reacting to the point of order ruled Mr Chinda out of order.
The development
turned the session into rowdiness, with several PDP lawmakers protesting against
the planned announcement.
An unidentified member
went straight and grabbed the mace which prompted the sergeants-at-arms to
swiftly move to protect the mace.
In the uproar, the
speaker went ahead to make the announcements and abruptly adjourned the
plenary.
He was guarded out
of the chamber amid cheers and jeers.
Precedence, Practise
It has always been
the usual practice in the National Assembly that a political party nominates
either the majority or minority leaders.
In the Eight
Assembly, the All Progressives Congress (APC) nominated Mr Gbajabiamila as
House leader, alongside others.
A letter was
communicated to the then Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and the announcement was
subsequently made.
However, the case
was different in the 8th Senate.
In a letter by the
then APC chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, the party said: “Please find below for
your necessary action names of principal officers approved by the party, after
excessive consultations for the 8th Senate as follows: Senator Ahmed Lawan
(Majority Leader)–North-East; Prof. Sola Adeyeye (Chief Whip)–South-West; Sen.
George Akume (Deputy Majority Leader)—North-Central; and Sen. Abu Ibrahim(Deputy
Chief Whip)—North-West.”
But the then Senate
President, Bukola Saraki, went ahead and announced Ali Ndume as the Senate
Leader.
Ahmed Lawan-led
faction objected to the reading of the list by Mr Saraki but their efforts were
not enough.
Kabiru Marafa who
raised a point of order was ruled out of order by the Senate president.
The announcements
further widened the gulf between Mr Saraki and the leadership of All
Progressives Congress.
FORMER MEMBERS REACT
Aliyu Madaki, a
former member of the House and a PDP member, said procedures for nominating
majority and minority leaders are clearly stated in the House rules.
“The rules clearly
states that majority and minority leader will be chosen amongst members.”
“If the speaker made
this announcement based on our house rules, then there is nothing wrong with
that,” he said.
Another former
lawmaker, Adeola Olasupo, condemned the action of the speaker, stating that
principal offices are party positions.
“Honestly, it is
strange,” he said.
He alleged that it
could be a plot by the ruling party to weaken the opposition.
Source: Premiumtimesng
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