Rumpus in House over Akunyili

Written by Daily Trust Wednesday, 03 March 2010

The first attempt by some members of the House of Representatives to discuss ailing President Umaru Yar’adua’s return to the country after spending three months in Saudi Arabia threw the House into a rowdy session yesterday and the attempt was shot down.

Confusion enveloped the House chamber soon after some members tried to bring a matter over the President’s non-appearance in public since his return to the country.

The trouble started when Rep Mayor Eze (PDP, Enugu State) raised a Point of Order, drawing attention over Minister of Information and Communications Prof. Dora Akunyili’s “unguarded statements”, which he said were heating up the polity. But before he could finish his speech, Speaker Dimeji Bankole stopped him, saying he couldn’t talk on the floor of the House without prior notice to the Speaker as enshrined in the House Rules.

Bankole asked Eze to meet and brief him, which Rep Eze did. When he came back to his seat, Eze requested the House to call Prof Akunyili to order for “her unguarded statements which heat up the polity and cause confusion”. He said, “When you read national dailies, you will discover that they are awash with Prof Akunyili’s statements on President Yar’adua. And this does no good to the country. Rather it brings confusion”.

Bankole asked Rep Mohammed Ali Ndume (ANPP, Borno State) to make his contribution on the matter, to which Ndume said   Prof Akunyili’s statements were aimed at bringing confusion to the country. He said, “I want to associate myself with what Hon. Mayor Eze has said. The lady is just trying to bring confusion to the country. Therefore we need to caution her”. The House was thrown into confusion for about ten minutes but Speaker Bankole brought it into order.

Not long afterwards, confusion erupted when Rep Patrick Obahiagbon (PDP, Edo State) raised a Point of Order, drawing the House’s attention to the “illegal deployment of troops to the airport” on the night of Yar’adua’s return to the country on Tuesday last week. Barely had he finished when Bankole asked him to meet and brief him on the matter. But after conferring with the Speaker, Rep Obahiagbon decided to defer his matter.

However, another member, Rep Samuel Sejero (AC, Lagos State) also raised a Point of Order, saying there was the need to know whether President Yar’adua had truly returned to the country. He also urged the House to summon the President’s wife, Hajiya Turai Yar’adua and others to explain his whereabouts.

Sejero said, “We should invite Tura’i and all those who are detaining the president to come and brief us on his whereabouts. This is against section 308 of the constitution”. Sejero had barely finished his speech when the House was thrown into yet another round of, which prompted the Speaker to order for a closed door session at 11:41am.

Emerging from the session at 1:50pm, Bankole directed leader of the House Rep Tunde Akogun (PDP, Edo State) to read the House’s resolution. Akogun said, “The House in an executive session resolved to urge Nigerians to concentrate only on those matters that would bring peace, unity and progress of Nigeria.”

But some members who didn’t want to be named told Daily Trust that the session was characterised by issues surrounding President Yar’adua’s non-appearance in public since his return to the country. While some members insisted that the President be forced to address the country in order to douse tension, others opined that it would be unnecessary to do so since the Acting President is in charge and all matters are being attended to without hitches.

They also cited the House’s resolution which empowered Dr Goodluck Jonathan to act as President, pointing out that unless the other group has a hidden motive, the President should be allowed to recuperate without any molestation.

Speaking to our reporter after the session, Rep Ali Ndume said the decision of the House was aimed at discouraging people from speaking on Yar’adua’s health, which he said does no good to the country.

He said, “In the executive session, we told ourselves the plain truth and we all resolved that the simple resolution should be everything necessary to put the country back on track. We advised every public officer and in fact every Nigerian to concentrate on those things that will promote the unity, prosperity and progress of this country, not to be issuing out statements because individuals want to play to the gallery, they want to make name or they want to create an opportunity thinking that if something collapses they will benefit out of it. That doesn’t help the situation.”

Rep Farouk Lawan (PDP, Kano State) urged the Acting President to caution his ministers from unguarded statements that can jeopardise the country. He said, “I want to urge the Acting President to caution all his ministers, especially Dora Akunyili, to shut up. We want him to concentrate on his work rather than heeding to people that could destabilise the country”.