Posted by By JAMES OJO, Abuja on
The proceedings of the nine-man investigative panel probing the award of N628million contract to renovate the residences of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives ended abruptly on Thursday as lawmakers exchanged blows.
The proceedings of the nine-man investigative panel probing the award of N628million contract to renovate the residences of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives ended abruptly on Thursday as lawmakers exchanged blows.
Trouble started when member of the House and former Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Emmanuel Jime shouted, "Ole," meaning thief, immediately the chairman of the panel, Hon David Idoko beckoned on the Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, to take the witness box.
Jime's action drew flaks from loyalists of the speaker, causing a brawl that lasted more than 10 minutes before security aides of the Speaker smuggled her out of the confusion.
Etteh, who arrived the venue of the sitting ahead of the panelists, remained seated until called by the panel chairman to move to the witness box, after the chairman apologized for keeping her waiting and reeled out the purpose of the sitting and the rules guiding proceedings.
Jime, who represents Markudi/Guma Federal Constituency of Benue State had positioned himself behind the panelists row. As loyalists of the Speaker applauded with claps to herald her to the witness box, he continued to shout "Ole, Ole Ole", which was replied with the shouts of "Up Speaker, Up Speaker, No Shaking, No Shaking" by Malaiye Dino, representing Kabba/Bunu Federal Constituency of Kogi State.
In the confusion that ensued, members jumped on the table to gain vantage position in readiness to vent their anger. Then shoving and pushing followed and blows started flying in different directions.
Jime was the first to receive a blow from Malaiye Dino, but he fired back by sending Hon Kayode Idowu, member from Odo-Otin/Ifelodun/Boripe Federal Constituency of Osun State to the floor with several blows, causing the attacked legislator to lose his Agbada in the process.
Samuel Sejoro from Badagry was also plummeted, while Mercy Alumona-Isei and Halims Agoda missed blows by whiskers.
The call for order by the panel chairman was ignored as more members from the opposing camps joined to form a protective shield around their colleagues.
Mrs. Etteh, who watched the drama, was sandwiched by security men, who later smuggled her out when the situation became more rowdy and some of the aggrieved members were moving towards her direction.
After the hurried exit of the speaker, Idoko, in the centre of the melee, announced the suspension of sitting and the decision to sit in camera, which members of the panel protested against.
The confusion still continued inside the hallowed chambers as members had to separate Alumona-Isei and Saudatu Sani, while it took intervention of members to stop Foluke Osinowo-Olunloyo and Betty Apiafi from taunting Ngidda Gella.
The conduct of Jime, at the panel sitting, dominated discussion in the House before it went into executive session.
Etteh had walked into the chamber at 11: 05am unannounced and went ahead to take charge of proceedings. She was barely allowed to say the prayers when a point of order was raised, but she overruled it.
In her brief remark, she reminded members of the need to conduct themselves as parliamentarians and warned against arrogating monopoly of violence by anybody.
Raising point of order, Hon Leo Ogor from Delta State brought the attention of the House to what happened at the venue of the panel, describing the action of Jime as a gross abuse of parliamentary privileges.
"It is an insult for anybody to use a derogatory language used by a member this morning at the venue of a panel the House duly constituted. It is not only unacceptable, it is unparliamentary, it is an insult, it is condemnable, I therefore move that the matter be referred to the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges," he begged the House.
Olaka Nwogu from Rivers State also condemned the conduct of Jime, saying that it was a recourse to disrespect to the institution of parliament for anybody, not to talk of a member of the parliament, to describe the Speaker as a thief when the panel had not concluded its findings and pronounced her guilty.
"It is the image of the parliament that it is being dragged into the mud.
It is not Madam Speaker that is at stake, it is the institution. It is painful to use such a foul language on Madam Speaker. That is why I will call on members to exercise restraint in what we say and what we do," he said.
For what happened at the panel sitting, Hon Austin Nwachukwu, from Imo State said that the House had come to a crossroad, where members would turn the venue of the panel to a boxing arena. His suggestions that the committee should be disbanded did not go down well with members who shouted ‘No'.
Geroge Daika from Plateau State called for the suspension of Jime for bringing the name of the House into disrepute by calling the Speaker a thief, which implied that every member was a thief.
Stanley Ohajuruika, former Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, who said he was in pains watching his colleagues conducting themselves in an uncivilized manner, called for an executive session, where things would be sorted out as "things are getting out of control".
Tam Brisbe described the event as unfortunate, saying that the honour of the House was trampled upon by members and moved a motion that the matter be referred to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges.
Leader of opposition, Mohammed Ndume, lamented that members had brought the House into disrepute in the eyes of the public by their conduct.
He said that the panel invited him as a principal officer of the House, adding that what he witnessed was a show of shame and total disrespect for the institution of parliament. However, he begged members to sheath their swords and allow the panel to complete its assignment.
The matter was later referred to the ethics and privileges committee, while another member, Sani Jibiya from Katsina State called the attention of the House to a newspaper publication he said was a gross misrepresentation of facts of what transpired at the panel sitting the day before.
Betty Apiafi from Rivers State; chairman, Rules and Business, Ita Enang; Deputy Whip, Aminu Tambuwal; Deputy Minority Whip, Suleiman Kawu and Shehu Garba Matazu all spoke against the newspaper, but called for caution, saying "two wrongs don't make a right."
Matazu regretted some actions of members, which, he said, were injurious to the nation's democracy.
He specifically mentioned that a member sent a text message that had the headline of the offensive newspaper to him a day before, meaning that some members were ready to do everything to bring down the House.
The plea of Mohammed Sani Alkaleri that the House moved into executive session because of the need to properly address the scandal that had polarized the House into camps was taken.
After the executive session that lasted over two hours, spokesman of the House, Hon Ezuiche Ubani, accompanied by Ita Enang, announced the ban on members from granting press interviews or issuing any press statement for the time being. Nocturnal meetings by all camps to the contract issue was also suspended.
Ubani said the decision was arrived at to give the panel an unfettered hand to conclude its assignment as the press war was capable of jeopardizing the panel's work.
He also announced the reversal of the motion to refer the misconduct of Jime to the ethics and privileges committee, saying that the two members, Jime and Dino, had apologized to the Speaker, members and Nigerians.
According to the rules of the House, Ubani said, the panel had been granted an extension till next Tuesday to round off its public sitting.
He added that it was the duty of the panel to determine when the Speaker and the leadership of the House would appear before it, while members and people who have no business with the panel have been banned from attending its sitting to stop distractions.