Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives,
and Idris Wase, his deputy, on Wednesday, engaged in a verbal confrontation
during the plenary session.
A dramatic situation unfolded when Gbajabiamila before the
adjournment of plenary, asked Hassan Fulata, chairperson of the house committee
on rules and business, to make the order paper for Thursday not contain too
many items so that the plenary would not go beyond 2 pm.
Gbajabiamila had read a notice to his colleagues about the
inauguration of the permanent site of the National Institute of Legislative and
Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Abuja.
“Chairman business and rules let’s make the order paper light for tomorrow (Thursday) because we have this — it is very important — the permanent site of the NILDS. It is at 2:30. So it will be good if we close by 2 pm,” Gbajabiamila said.
Wase subsequently raised a point of order and objected to
Gbajabiamila’s request that the plenary would be adjourned by 2 pm because of
the inauguration of the NILDS building.
He argued that lawmakers who wanted to attend the
commissioning should be allowed to do so, but that it was unnecessary to
adjourn the house for that reason.
“We have lost quite a number of periods of time. Why do we
have to shelve a lot of activities that we have just to go and witness the
commissioning of a project of NILDS? I want to beg sir that we should do our
functions,” he said.
“Those who have the
interest to go (for the inspiration), they have the right to do (so). But our
main primary function in this parliament is to make law and our citizens should
be our priority.”
Gbajabiamila responded, saying that the deputy speaker might
not fully grasp the significance of NILDS.
He said: “Perhaps deputy speaker you don’t appreciate the
importance of NILDS like some of us do. I think NILDS is very important.”
The speaker was immediately interrupted by Wase who informed
him that he has “every information and idea of what NILDS is”.
Again, Gbajabimaila explained why he wanted the plenary to
be adjourned by 2 pm.
“NILDS was set up by this same institution (national
assembly) by statute. We are not adjourning the house to go to NILDS. What I
said was — let’s try and make it light and leave here by 2 pm. If you want we
can resume by 10 am. We will do our work but we will adjourn this house at 2
pm. I will witness NILDS (inauguration) because it is important to me.”
Wase, disagreed with the speaker, saying: “The parliament is
about us, not about I”, obviously referring to Gbajabiamila’s earlier
statement.
A fortnight ago, Wase had kicked against a motion to adjourn
the house because of the induction of members-elect.
‘YOU’RE CHALLENGING THE SPEAKER’
Visibly offended by Wase’s confrontation, Gbajabiamila said
it was the first time in the history of the house of representatives that a
deputy speaker would be “challenging” the speaker.
“Mr deputy speaker,
this is the first time in history. I have been in this house for many years,
perhaps even longer than anybody here. This is the first time in history that a
deputy speaker will be challenging what the speaker is saying,” Gbajabiamila
said.
He was again interjected by Wase who retorted: “I don’t
understand what you mean by challenging, sir. That I should not make my
contribution?
Gbajabiamila, once again stressed to Fulata that the order
paper should not be overcrowded because the plenary would be adjourned by 2 pm
on Thursday.
THE SPEAKERSHIP
TUSSLE
The All Progressives Congress (APC) had nominated Tajudeen
Abbas and Benjamin Kalu as the preferred candidates for the positions of
speaker and deputy.
However, some lawmakers had accused Gbajabiamila of
“single-handedly” imposing Abbas on them.
The nominations have been met with pushback from six
aspirants who have allied to ensure the speaker is elected from among them.
The APC speakership hopefuls include Wase, Yusuf Gagdi,
Muktar Betara, Sada Soli, Mariam Onuoha and Sani Jaji.
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