It took the intervention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Waziri Tambuwal, to save what would have degenerated into fisticuffs by members over the much expected leadership change yesterday in the House.
The rowdy session in the House took place on a day the party that would have benefited from the envisaged leadership change, the All Progressives Congress (APC) vowed to stand by the Court of Appeal judgment which ruled that the status quo be maintained as far as the leadership of the House is concerned.
The APC has maintained, however, it would make sure that the court order is vacated at the next adjourned date of February 3.
Making the submission yesterday at a news briefing, the caucus of the party in the House of Representatives led by Minority Leader, Femi Gbajiabimila, disclosed that though the Court of Appeal erred to have entertained the suit in the first instance, the APC would in the spirit of its stand for change in the polity abide by the court order.
“The PDP shamelessly went to court to obtain a strange judgment not known in the country or anywhere in the world which interferes in one arm of government interfering with the constitutional responsibilities of another.
“We did not take it serious. APC stands for change and one of them is to change the culture of impunity and disregard to the rule of law. We abide by the order of the court and we are going to stand by the order. We shall also seek to vacate the order. Nigerians must know that today, we have yet again ridiculed the government and people of Nigeria,” said Gbajabiamila on behalf of other House of Rep members present.
Trouble started at the lower legislative chamber when the House decided to debate the River State crisis in which Senator Magnus Abe was hospitalised after being shot by the police at a rally in Port-Harcourt.
Ali Madaki from Kano State had raised a motion under matter of public importance calling on the House to mandate President Goodluck Jonathan to fire the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, and that the Police Service Commission dismiss the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State, Mbu Joseph Mbu over alleged shoddy handling of the Rivers crisis.
Deputy leader of the House, Leo Ogor in opposing the motion called for fair hearing, urging the House to give the IGP and the Rivers CP right of fair hearing by inviting them to give their side of the story before any decision can be taken on them.
Contributing to the debate, Gbajabiamila referred to Ogor as deputy minority leader. This caused uproar as PDP members swooped on Gbajabiamila but for the intervention of APC members who quickly rallied round him to prevent any harm from being inflicted on him.
The confusion in the House lasted for a while before the speaker intervened and chided Gbajabiamila for his unconstitutional comment and asked that he explain to the House why he chose to speak the way he did.
“In the cause of the examination of the motion, the minority leader, a very senior member of the House made what I will refer to as a very expensive joke.
“We have our rules of procedure from the Constitution. All the leaders in this House are aware of the issue he has raised on the change of leadership and the court decision. I was taken aback when he made that statement. We want to know why he made that statement to the deputy leader, Leo Ogor who I know is his colleague and friend,” Tambuwal said.
While trying to explain, Gbajiamila stuck to his gun that he was speaking based on the provisions of House Rule 36 which states that the party with the majority in the House controls the leadership, insisting that not recognising that amounts to a breach of their privilege as members of the political party with the majority.
“Having laid the foundation in reference to your office, I would now refer to Leo Ogor as Hon. Leo Ogor.
This further aggravated the matter as he was not allowed to finish his statement when aggrieved members again made for him but the speaker again called the House to order.
Speaking to again calm frayed nerves, the speaker, maintained that the House should be the last to disobey a court order.
“Let us as leaders in the country, continue to manage what is developing in our democratic structure in the country and continue to control ourselves in the common interest of our country. The stability of this country should be uppermost in our minds. If we can no longer conduct our business because of leadership problems, the country will be the loser,” the speaker said.
This calmed the members and the speaker went ahead to refer the matter on the removal and sack of the IGP and Rivers Police Commissioner respectively to the Committees on Rules and Justice to look into the matter and report back to the House after one week.
Before the commotion in the House, the speaker had read out letters from four members of the House intimating colleagues of their defection to other political parties.
The move saw Emmanuel Jime from Benue defecting from the PDP to the APC, Yahaya Kwande from Plateau State left the DPP and moved over to the APC.
While the duo of Francis Hananiya and Ganama Jitsi from Adamawa state defected from the APC to the PDP.
Referring to the leadership struggle in the House, the APC caucus said by numerical calculation, it has become the majority in the House.
“Our parliament today remains the only one in the world where the minority plays the role of majority, and the majority plays the role of the minority.
“What happened in the House was a statement of fact not from me but by the APC. The numerical balance has changed as at the last count, the APC has a numerical advantage in the House of about 20 members. We do not want to dwell on this matter as there are other important matters before us in the House,” the party caucus said.