John Ameh, Abuja
Tension heightened at the House of
Representatives on Tuesday over alleged moves by the caucus of the All
Progressives Congress to remove the Majority Leader, Mr. Femi
Gbajabiamila.
There was also a bid to place some of his allies on six months’ suspension.
Gbajabiamila and some of his supporters
in the House had on Monday boycotted the inauguration of the 96 standing
committees of the lower federal legislative chamber by the Speaker, Mr.
Yakubu Dogara, to protest “unfair treatment” of the majority APC in the
distribution of the committees.
Two APC lawmakers indeed fought each
other at the lobby of the National Assembly on Tuesday as anger boiled
over the composition of the House committees.
The members, Mr. Herman Hembe (Benue
State) and Mr. Aliu Magaji (Jigawa State), almost punched one another
but for the prompt intervention of other lawmakers.
We gathered that what
started as a mild argument later degenerated to a point at which Hembe
and Magaji started shoving each other.
One eyewitness claimed that the two lawmakers indeed slapped each other with Hembe slapping Magaji first.
Hembe is the Chairman, House Committee
on Federal Capital Territory, and he is one of the lawmakers who do not
see anything wrong with the committees as constituted by Dogara.
“They were charging at each other and
Hembe threw his hand, landing on Magaji’s face before they were halted”,
the source told our correspondent.
When contacted, Magaji denied that he fought with Hembe though he admitted that they merely engaged in a war of words.
On his part, Hembe claimed that he would not raise his hands against any colleague.
“False. I would never slap an honourable member. I don’t know where all those rumours are coming from,”
There has been a raging dispute over the
sharing of the committees’ chairmanships since Dogara named them on
October 22, with 48 of the committees being chaired by APC members and
45 by members of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
The majority party members are
particularly miffed that the opposition took control of a number of
prime committees, otherwise known as ‘juicy committees’ in the parlance
of the Nigerian legislature.
On Monday, as the Speaker inaugurated
the committees, some of the Gbajabiamila loyalists, led by Mr. Musa
Sarkin-Ada, gathered at the APC national secretariat in Abuja, where
they addressed journalists and accused Dogara of allegedly serving the
interest of the PDP.
However, many members of the APC caucus,
who were ready to accept the committees’ composition and work with
Dogara, reportedly made a move to remove Gbajabiamila if he continued to
oppose the House.
Text messages reportedly circulated
among members between Monday and Tuesday, urging them to compile
signatures to remove the House leader.
The PUNCH learnt that as the
news spread and tension mounted, a meeting of the caucus was hurriedly
summoned on Tuesday morning to discuss the issue.
The meeting, which was held inside Hearing Room 1, was presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Yussuff Lasun.
Lasun was said to have used the opportunity to dispel “rumours” of any move to replace the majority leader.
“The explanation became necessary
because there were members on the leader’s side who came threatening
that there would be no peace in the House if the leader was removed.
“Some people came asking questions and
were ready to fight. They wanted to know the true position of things,”
one senior official informed our correspondent on Tuesday.
Checks revealed that there were “real moves” to either suspend Gbajabiamila and his loyalists or remove the leader.
Investigations showed that at a separate
meeting between Dogara, Lasun and Gbajabiamila on Tuesday morning, the
majority leader was reportedly reprimanded for behaving in a manner
suggesting that he was “more APC than other members.”
The House leader was said to have been
accused of attending meetings of the leadership of the House where
decisions were taken, only for him to later deny being part of such
meetings.
Another source, who also spoke to our
correspondent on condition of anonymity, said, “His actions were seen as
someone who attends the meetings of the leadership and goes out to leak
vital information.
“There were attempts to call for the
suspension of the leader and his allies because many members felt
Gbajabiamila and his allies did not only undermine the speaker, but also
the entire House.
“But, there were interventions and the issue of suspension has been put on hold for now.”
One member from Katsina State, Mr. Ahmed
Baba-Kaita, stormed out of the Tuesday meeting, swearing loudly that he
would never support the removal of the leader or do anything contrary
to the will of the APC leadership.
Baba-Kaita confirmed that there were plans to remove Gbajabiamila for opposing the House on account of committee distribution.
He said that some APC members were
unhappy that Dogara was not prepared to alter the distribution of the
committees by retrieving vital committees from the PDP and hand them
over to the APC.
The lawmaker said, “The party gave a
clear-cut instruction to Dogara on Monday to come and look into the
matter. He promised to get back to the party, he hasn’t done so.
“Now, we hear there is a plan to remove
the House leader. That will not work because they know that we
(Gbajabiamila’s backers) have the majority.
“We will continue to resist them because
this is an APC government and we won’t allow a situation whereby the
PDP is made to control us.”
But, the leadership of the House has denied that there was a move to remove Gbajabiamila.
The Chief Whip, Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, claimed that the “rumours are unfounded.”
Ado-Doguwa said Gbajabiamila remained
the leader, adding that the House under the speakership of Dogara was
ready to work with President Muhammadu Buhari to implement all the
policies of the APC.
However, he stressed that the APC must resolve its internal dispute over the committees and moves the country ahead.
“We have just met as the APC family. We
are saying enough of the misunderstanding within the APC. We have to
organise ourselves and work with the speaker and move ahead.
“The speculation that some people want to remove Gbajabiamila is unfounded,” Ado-Doguwa said.
Dogara (APC), Lasun (APC), Gbajabiamila
(APC), Ado-Doguwa (APC), Deputy House Whip, Mr. Pally Iriase (APC) and
the principal officers of the PDP later came together in a procession
for the plenary of the House to commence after the meetings.
No further mention of the issue was made
in the chambers as Dogara presided, making several friendly exchanges
with Gbajabiamila in the course of the debates.
There has been a cold war between Dogara
and Gbajabiamila since October 22 when the speaker named the 96
committees on account of the grumbling by APC members that the party was
not fairly treated in the distribution of the committees.
Included in the PDP’s share are
committees like the Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream);
Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream); Committee on Gas
Resources; Committee on Aviation; Committee on Power; Committee on
Works; Committee on NDDC; Committee on Niger Delta; and Committee on Air
Force.
Among the APC’s committees are Committee
on Appropriations; Committee on Finance; Committee on Customs/Excise;
Committee on Defence; Committee on Communications; and Committee on
Agricultural Services.
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