It was a rowdy session as the House of Representatives resumed plenary on Monday.
Members engaged in a shouting match when the letter from the New Peoples Democratic Party requesting to visit the House was read.
The letter was signed by the party’s National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
For about 30 minutes, pro-Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and pro-Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje members of the House elected on the platform of the PDP engaged in fisticuffs.
They were screaming on top of their voices and in the process, the Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, was thrown into confusion as key members made their way towards him to offer advice.
To douse tension, Speaker Tambuwal announced that Alhaji Bamanga Tukur also wrote to visit the House but withdrew it later.
Tambuwal said: “There was a communication from our leader, Bamanga Tukur, to address the PDP caucus, but he withdrew his letter this morning and that was why I couldn’t read it.”
A PDP member representing Rivers State, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, moved a motion under the Point of Order.
Chinda said: “We are united.
“People watching what happened on the floor will misinterpret it to mean that we are divided.”
The lawmaker was of the opinion that various publications of recent were meant to cause ill feelings amongst members.
Consequently, he moved a vote of confidence on the speaker and it was overwhelmingly passed.
After the vote of confidence was passed, Tambuwal read his speech titled: “We Must Remain Focused.”
It reads in part: “Most of our people still can’t afford to live decently. They still can’t afford quality education for their children or good healthcare for their families. They still don’t have those basic needs of life – from clean water to adequate security and regular power supply that other nations take for granted. This means there remains a whole lot more to be done.
“Recently, the polity has witnessed sustained heat generated by both inter-party and intra-party squabbles. This is not all together unexpected given the approach of 2015. What is worrisome however is that these squabbles have further exposed the weaknesses of internal party democratic culture and inter-party intolerance. These are viruses that we must resolve to dispense with in order to sanitize the political space.
“I wish to caution that we exercise the highest restraint to the obvious distractions that the approaching 2015 is bound to bring so that we do not lose our focus in the diligent pursuit of our mandate. The proper timing for 2015 will surely come and at that time, we shall do the needful.
“We also hope to amend the Electoral Act again to see how we can ensure that no one takes unfair advantage of the existing loopholes to rig elections. The fact is that until we can ensure that each vote counts in this country, the people will always be taken for granted by their leaders. We therefore want to produce a solid Electoral Act, comparable to any in the world and able to stand the text of time.
“Budget implementation still remains a sore point of governance. The level of implementation of the 2013 capital appropriation is way below expectation given the early submission by the Executive and equally early passage by the Legislature. We have consistently advised that the procurement process be employed in a value added manner rather than the slavish adherence to and unproductive worship of procedures. It would appear that not much progress has been made in that regard.
“So far by the information and statistics at our disposal there would appear to be no justification for this state of affairs. However in order to be comprehensively guided, all the Committees of the House will proceed on one week of oversight to Ministries, Department and Agencies at the end of which they shall submit their reports to the Committees on Legislative Budget and Research and that of Legislative Compliance, the two Committees will collate same and submit a joint report to plenary for consideration. This report will guide the House in the consideration of the 2014 budget proposals.
“In an Interim Report to Leadership, the Ad hoc Committee on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has reported that public hearings on the bill have been successfully conducted in the six geo political zones and Abuja. The importance of this bill to the economy can not be overemphasized, accordingly the committee is hereby directed to expedite work and submit it’s report to the House soonest.”
Tambuwal told the Baraje group: “As politicians and leaders, we are deeply concerned about developments in the country in recent weeks, especially the face-off within our party. This development once again exposed our vulnerability and the status of the culture of inter-party democracy and tolerance.
“Political parties and the political infrastructure means that democracy can only flourish when there are strong political parties and well developed institutions and firmly entrenched democratic culture. It is important as politicians, to constantly remind ourselves that the democracy we have belong to entire Nigerian people and not politicians alone.
“Indeed, all Nigerians fought to install this democracy and many paid the supreme price with their lives in the process, therefore we must not by our actions thwart the supreme sacrifices by our heroes past with levity.
“While acknowledging that political parties are vehicles through which we pursue our ambitions and aspirations we must all conduct ourselves strictly within the confines of our Constitution.
“I wish to caution that Nigerians need peaceful atmosphere to conduct their lives and business endeavors, I make bold to say that we, card-carrying members of political parties contribute not more than 25 percent of the population of this country.
“We must therefore abstain from heating up the polity unnecessarily, we must not take the rest of Nigerians for granted, we just not over reach our goodwill and we must not over task the goodwill of Nigerians
“Let us therefore take conscious effort to allow national interest take the driving seat and not our personal ambitions.”
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