House Of Reps In Shameful Rowdy Session

Nigerian Law makers sitting in the House of Representatives were engaged in a rowdy session on Tuesday after some members protested against the recognition of the Abubakar Baraje-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by Speaker Aminu Tambuwal.

Any outsider would be forgiven for mistaking the floor of the House for a market place as legislators took to speaking with raised voices, howling and shoving one another around when law makers loyal to the Baraje-led group engaged in contentious arguments with the Bamanga Tukur-led faction over the appropriateness of the Speaker’s recognition of the Baraje group.  

It all started when the Speaker of the House announced a communication from PDP to members of the party present at the Assembly but did not mention which of the two factions the communication came from. He however read a text after the announcement saying, the communication was from the “national working committee of the party led by Alhaji Abubakar Baraje”.

At this juncture, certain Law Makers, presumably the ones loyal to the Tukur faction, started a protest, condemning the Speaker’s decision to recognise the Baraje-led group by making an announcement originating from that faction in the House. Some other Law makers, presumably ones loyal to the Baraje faction, cheered the Speaker’s decision. With certain Law makers booing a decision and others cheering, it was only a matter of time before pandemonium broke out and it lasted for about thirty minutes.   

When sanity eventually prevailed, the Speaker made an announcement that the Tukur-led faction also gave a notice to hold a meeting with the PDP caucus of the house for 3pm but later withdrew the notice, which was why he did not see the need to bring it up on the floor.

When the commotion was eventually resolved and civility resumed, the House carried on with proceedings on the order paper and a vote of confidence on the leadership of Tambuwal was moved and carried by the lawmakers.

The motion for the vote was moved by Hon. Kingsley Chinda (PDP) from Rivers State and seconded by Hon. Goni (Yobe, PDP).

Meanwhile, the Baraje-led group is set to commence a meeting with the PDP caucus any moment from now at the premises of the House.