Yar’Adua: House in Rowdy Session
From Onwuka Nzeshi in Abuja THISDAY | Mar.03.2010

Another rowdy scene ensued in the House of Representatives yesterday over issues surrounding the sudden return of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to the country.

A member of the House had raised a point of order signifying his intention to cause the parliament to consider a matter of urgent public and national importance.

The matter in question was a newspaper interview where Information and Communi-cations Minister Dora Akunyili was quoted to have said a cabal was heating up the polity by not only failing to disclose the truth about President Yar’ Adua’s health but by also preventing the Acting President from seeing him after his return from Saudi Arabia.

This led to a rancorous situation where all kinds of issues were raised, with the debate going forth and back.
The House was forced to suspend its normal sitting, dissolving into an emergency executive session.

After over two hours of meeting behind closed-doors, the lawmakers adopted a resolution urging all Nigerians particularly the political elite to desist from further making utterances capable of worsening the current political crisis.

The House said making any unguarded statement at this trying period was dangerous because it could incite the military to stage yet another return to the political arena thereby truncating the current democratic dispensation.

The resolution read by House Leader Tunde Akogun stated thus: “The House at an executive session reviewed the state of the nation and resolved to urge Nigerians to concentrate only on those matters that will promote the peace, unity and stability of Nigeria.”

As soon as the resolution was read, the House adjourned sitting for the day.
Although no further details were given on the closed door session and how the lawmakers arrived at the resolution, THISDAY gathered that it was another session of political intrigues as the House was sharply divided on the issues arising from the return of President Yar Adua.

Sources from the session said many lawmakers were uncomfortable with the latest developments in the polity, particularly the seeming division in the Presidency and the polarisation of the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF).

There were heated arguments on the seeming conflict of interest and loyalty amongst ministers and presidential aides.
It was also said that some lawmakers voiced out their discomfort over the manner in which the ill-health of the President had been handled since his return and the need to ascertain the true state of his health.

A group of lawmakers was said to have taken exception at the alleged disregard shown by some of Yar Adua’s aides to the Acting President since the return of their boss and interpreted it as a disregard for the parliament, which proclaimed that Jonathan should assume the role of Acting President, which he has been playing in recent weeks.

This group was said to have canvassed the commencement of impeachment process against Yar’ Adua if the parliament could not ascertain his capacity to continue in office within a certain time limit.

The lawmakers however resolved to keep all the fears and plans of action on hold to allow events unfold clearly.
THISDAY learnt that the House resolved to only take action if there is evidence that the Acting President was being prevented by anyone from carrying out his functions in the Presidency.
The executive session and the subsequent resolution came on the heels of several interruptions by lawmakers to the proceedings of the House.

The drama of the day began when without prior notice; a member of the House, Hon. Mayor Eze (PDP Imo), raised a point of order signifying his intention to cause the parliament to consider a matter of urgent importance.
House Speaker Dimeji Bankole hesitated a little before granting the request because, according to the rules of the House, any member wishing to raise a matter of urgent public importance ought to first discuss it with the Speaker before bringing it to the floor.

On securing the leave of the House to raise his point of order, Eze told his colleagues that while the country was at a critical crossroads and a moment that required sober reflection, some persons have in recent days, made some unguarded statements that could heat up the polity.

Brandishing a copy of THISDAY (February 28, 2010), Eze referred the lawmakers to a certain interview in which Information and Communications Minister Dora Akunyili was quoted to have said a cabal around the Presidency was heating up the polity by not only failing to disclose the truth about the health of President Yar’ Adua but also by preventing the Acting President from seeing him barely one week after his (Yar’ Adua’s) return from Saudi Arabia.

Apparently not sure of the direction of the motion, there were murmurings of disapproval from across the chambers and Speaker Bankole intervened by inviting Eze to confer with him and clarify the direction of his argument.
On his return, Eze went on to marshal out his points and sought the leave of the House that the matter be considered at the next legislative day.

“This House has not been against the President even before he travelled out of the country for medical attention. In his absence we as a parliament have also done what we could to hold the country together. We have taken steps to manage the political crisis and we cannot afford to have public officials make statements capable of creating more tension. The Acting President is functioning through the support of the parliament and the Nigerian people and there is no need for such negative utterances and insinuations,” he said.

Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Ali Ndume, also made an attempt to support the position of Eze but this later move was unsuccessful as some lawmakers shouted him down.
As soon as this scenario played out, the Speaker put the question on whether the House should consider it in full or not and the voice vote was in the negative.

Soon after this, Hon Patrick Obahiagbon (PDP Edo) raised another point of order in which he raised questions on the manner in which President Yar’Adua returned to the country last week.
Obahiagbon took exception to the alleged deployment of troops on the night of the President’s return and said it was a breach of national security for some persons to deploy troops without authorisation from the Acting President.

He said that under Section 218(1) of the 1999 Constitution, the power to deploy troops rests squarely on the desk of Jonathan who was proclaimed Acting President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces by the National Assembly.

Obahiagbon was, however, stopped on his tracks when Bankole invited him to “approach the chair” to streamline his argument.
On return, Obahiagbon announced his withdrawal from the debate he had earlier initiated on the excuse that he was bowing to the wishes of the leadership of the House.

A third attempt was made by Hon Samuel Whesu Sejoro (AC Lagos) to cause the House to discuss the controversies arising from the return of President Yar’ Adua but again this did not see the light of day as it was greeted with shouts and murmurings from across the chambers.
It was amidst this rowdy scene that Bankole announced that the House was dissolving into an executive session to consider the recurring issues out of the view of television cameras and prying eyes of reporters.

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