An attempt by the rebellious governors of the New PDP, popularly called G-7, to present their grievances before the House of representative leaders in Abuja, resulted in a serious fracas among the lawmakers which led to the usual exchange of blows and flinging of chairs in the House on Tuesday.
A lawmaker from Bayelsa State, Mr. Henry Ofongo, was beaten and pushed repeatedly by an opposing member for agitating against the visit of the rebellious governors.
Law makers from Kano State including Aminu Suleiman, Baballe Murktar, Ali Madakaki and Ado Dogoa were said to be majorly against Ofongo as well as Dakuku Peterside and Andrew Uchendu, who are both from Rivers State.
This led to the situation whereby other members in support of Ofongo attempted to throw punches and chairs from in solidarity support for Ofongo in the House of Representatives’ characteristic manner.
They included Ini Udoka and Emmanuel Okon from Akwa Ibom State who are already confirmed pro- Bamanga Tukur-led National Working Committee of the PDP lawmakers.
It was learnt that Afongo led his cohorts including Betty Apiafi (Rivers); Bethel Amadi (Imo); Kingsley Chinda (Rivers); Bitrus Kaze (Plateau) to distrupt the meeting shouting “point of order”, “point of order” in his protest. They sang, “No, way, no way; PDP, Tukur; PDP, Tukur.” The loud protest drowned the speech on the efforts being made to “address the culture of impunity in the PDP.” Apiafi complained that the House was supporting “illegality” as she angrily said; “This is illegality; we have only one PDP, they should stop this rubbish. How can we legalise it in the House? The Speaker should not do this”.
The lawmakers opposing the New PDP shouted rythmically thus: “No, way, no way; PDP, Tukur; PDP, Tukur.”
The governors in the New PDP who visited the lawmakers included Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano); Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); and Abdul-Fatai Ahmed (Kwara).
They were led to the meeting by the National Chairman of the New PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje. Other principal officers of the House in the meeting were the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha; the Majority Leader, Mrs. Mulikat Akande-Adeola; the Chief Whip, Mr. Ishaka Bawa; the Deputy Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor; and the Deputy Whip, Mr. Murktar Ahmed.
Later on, Ofongo told reporters that the presence of a “large number of non-PDP members” at the meeting angered him.
He said that he had no problem with Baraje’s visit to the House as a leader in the party.
“But, I saw a crowd and non-party members among them. I wanted to ask why and they started pushing me and shouting me down”, he claimed.
Meanwhile, the house of representative Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal has described the politics in play within the PDP during the visit of the Baraje-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as an attempt to destroy democracy. This was in his reaction to the speech of the chairman of the splinter group, Abubaka Kawu Baraje as well as the actions of the house members during the visit which led to serious exchange of blows amongst both the female and male lawmakers.Tambuwal noted that self-interest, rather than the welfare of the majority of Nigerians, has become so paramount to majority of the politicians.
Tambuwal stated “We are deeply concerned about recent political developments in our country, especially in the PDP.
He said he could not comprehend why politicians, who constitute less than “25 per cent” of the country’s population, were taking the majority for a ride.
“Democracy belongs to all Nigerians and not to politicians alone. Many people died fighting for democracy. This is a reason we must conduct ourselves according to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We must abstain from heating up the polity unnecessarily because of our personal ambitions”, he warned.
Blow by blow account of nPDP, G7 visit to National Assembly
