House Spoils for A Fight
By KUNLE AKOGUN THISDAY | Apr.17.2010

When the House of Representatives resumes from its two-week Easter break next Tuesday two matters are expected to engage the attention of the honorable members: the unfinished business of Constitution Amendment and the brewing rebellion in the Green Chambers. While the first item will be on the front burner of the main business of the plenary in the next few days, the other is believed to be capable of disrupting the House business for as long as it remains unresolved.

Indications that things might not be at ease in the Lower House were gleaned on the last day before the House closed for Easter.
The normal sitting was interrupted that Wednesday barely 30 minutes after it started when the House, then presided over by the Deputy Speaker Hon Usman Bayero Nafada, promptly dissolved into an executive session. Sources within the House membership told this newspaper that the closed door executive session had only one agenda: the Lawmakers’ “Easter Bonus”.

At the root of the brewing rebellion are two main issues: the impending reconstitution of the House's standing committees and the "Easter Bonus", a euphemism for the lawmakers' usual quarterly share of the collapsed benefits. In fact, the latter formed the sole agenda of the executive session held on the day of the last sitting before the House adjourned for the Easter festivity.

During the executive session, it was gathered that some members fervently canvassed the outright sharing of the capital and recurrent expenditure of the House among members to enhance their usual quarterly take-home. This, euphemistically referred to as collapsed benefits in House parlance, would mean that there would be nothing left in the common purse of the House with which to carry out some of its day-to-day activities, committee oversight functions and even other contingent duties.

Findings show that prior to their demand, each member used to get on a quarterly basis between N27 million and N30 million while principal officers get up to N60 million and above. But by the time the collapsed benefits are now shared, each member would be getting up to N42 million quarterly. This strategy, it was gathered, was vehemently opposed by the House leadership, represented at the pre-Easter executive session by the Deputy Speaker, Hon Usman Nafada, who presided in the absence of Speaker Dimeji Bankole.

It was however gathered that the members had their way during the closed-door session, as their share numbers overwhelmed Nafada. But trouble started when Bankole returned and was said to have expressed strong opposition to the resolution at the executive session. When it became obvious that the Speaker was bent on reversing the resolution, a group of legislators promptly began an SMS campaign to rally members behind a plot to remove the Speaker and other principal officers of the House.

In one of the SMS messages to the lawmakers obtained by this newspaper, a group that goes by the name, "Save the House Group", said, "Dear colleagues, Easter has come and gone. It was tough. No allowance because the House is heavily indebted to the banks for no tangible reason. We have been cheated in 2008 and 2009 to the tune of billions by Bankole. While he has been declared as one of the richest men around, we are living from hand to mouth. Enough. Let us win our House back and restore our dignity. Join us now. Save the House Group."

In an apparent counter-offensive, another group in the House that calls itself "Friends of the House" promptly sent out its own SMS to the lawmakers. The SMS read: "Congratulations for a wonderful Easter coming after a historic collapse. It is our collective duty to keep the House united and strong because as it is said, 'united we stand, divided we fall'. Any disruption now 'll expose the House and imperil the realisation of the collapsed benefits, which 'll ensure our re-election. Our enemies are those who are trying to divide us. Watch out for spoilers and play safe. God bless. From Friends of the House."

While the pro-collapse lawmakers argue that the House leadership and principal officers are getting more than their fair share of the extra-emolument benefits, which THISDAY learnt was deliberately built into the House through "budget padding" for the pecuniary benefit of all members, the pro-establishment legislators say it is "insensible and insensitive" to drain the House coffers of necessary funds that could be used for routine maintenance and other functions of the House.

A pro-establishment lawmaker said, "if everything is shared, it means it will become difficult to buy ordinary izal for the cleaning of the toilets. And if any House committee wants to go for oversight functions, the members will have to fund such trip from their respective pockets. Oversight functions will suffer because none of the members will want to spend a kobo from their pockets for any official assignment."

But this line of argument has been debunked by a member of the "Save the House Group" who craved anonymity "for strategic reasons." He said "while the House leadership is swimming in stupendous wealth, members are left sulking in abject poverty, living from hand to mouth as it were.
For instance, while the Speaker takes between N120 million and N135 million every quarter, and his deputy between N75 and N50 million, ordinary members take a paltry N27 million. This should change because we all agreed to pad the budget so that something substantial would accrue to all of us at the end of the day."

Investigation revealed further that the move by the lawmakers to jerk up their quarterly share could be in pursuit of their well-known parity war with their counterparts at the Senate. It was gathered that an average senator gets between N42 million and N45 million quarterly, a plausible reason mthe House members also want their quarterly take-home raised to this level.

The other cause for the discord in the House, which may snowball into an open rebellion when it resumes plenary next Tuesday, is the move to reconstitute the House's 84 standing committees. This matter was broached by Deputy Speaker Nafada shortly before the House adjourned for the Easter break on March 31. He had announced then that the headship of the House committees would be dissolved and new ones appointed before April ending. He then urged members of the Selection Committee to be on stand-by during the Easter break as they may be called upon at very short notice to come and reconstitute the committees before resumption on April 20.

To some members currently holding key and what they deem ‘cushy’ committee appointments, this hint was like poking at a raw sore with a sharp object. And this promptly sent them to the trenches to evolve strategies on how to scuttle the impending committees’ reconstitution. Naturally, the move didn't go down well with such members who saw the planned reconstitution as vindictive and a move to witch hunt those the House leadership considers as rebels.

But a source close to the House leadership confided Thursday that "there is nothing vindictive about the proposed reconstitution of the House committees," pointing out that it is a routine duty of the leadership to move the House forward. Explaining that most of the committees are overdue for reconstitution, the source said: "Some of them are not performing to expectation; some have had no substantive chairmen in the past six months or more due either to deaths; resignations; vacation of seats due to election petitions; or removal of their incumbent heads due to one misdemeanor or the other."

The source added that "the thinking of those whipping up rebellious sentiments in the House now is that if the Speaker, who is the chairman of the Selection Committee, is blackmailed and threatened with impeachment, he could probably be forced to retrace his steps and allow for maintain the status quo."

He, however, said no amount of intimidation or blackmail will change the leadership's resolve to "inject new blood into the House committees and put round pegs in round holes." He pointed to the fact that the Speaker has always hammered on the need for the committees to be alive to their responsibilities in terms of public hearings on bills and resolutions as well as oversight functions towards enhancing the productivity of the House in the overall interest of the people.

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