Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal deftly forestalled a chaotic plenary session at the House of Representatives yesterday as Peoples Democratic Party members had determined to throw the 37 defected APC lawmakers out of the House of Reps chambers if they refused to obey a court order issued by a Federal High Court on Monday which stated that the lawmakers should vacate their seats.
The angry PDP caucus lawmakers had planned to raise a point of order as soon as the plenary was convened and insist that the Speaker declare the seats of the lawmakers affected by the court order vacant. Any failure of the Speaker to do as instructed would cause the lawmakers to physically manhandle the affected lawmakers and kick them out of chambers.
However Tambuwal and his deputy, Emeka Ihedioha got wind of the plan before it was hatched and nipped it in the bud. As soon as plenary was convened, the Speaker called for an emergency executive session. During the session, discussions were had on camera and the leadership of the House pleaded with the PDP lawmakers to allow peace reign. After one hour of pleading, the PDP lawmakers shelved their plan.
The affected APC lawmakers were said to have become sober and were given a list of demands by their PDP counterparts. They were instructed to stop antagonizing the PDP and the Judge over the matter.
Speaking to journalists, the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Victor Ogene, said “The National Assembly has the right to go on appeal as an institution if it so desired, but it is wrong to insinuate that the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker in their personal capacities appealed the rulings of last Friday and this Monday.
“We would have held the session yesterday (Tuesday) but we decided to wait until today to allow all parties have copies of the judgement, so we are not aware of pressure from anywhere to declare anybody’s seat vacant.”