Tag Archives: Chamber

Rowdy Session At House Of Reps As lawmakers Block Kachikwu From Chamber

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The scheduled appearance of Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, at the House of Representatives on Monday has left the lower chamber bitterly divided, as lawmakers bicker over whether the minister should be allowed to enter into the chamber or not.

Mr. Kachikwu was invited to brief lawmakers on the recent increase in the price of petrol.

But when Mr. Kachikwu arrived to honour the invitation, he was met with echoes of anger from lawmakers who started shouting “No! No! No!”

Shortly after noon, House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, moved a motion to let Mr. Kachikwu in, but many lawmakers shouted him down.

This prompted the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, to put the matter up for voice vote.

When Mr. Dogara asked if the lawmakers should allow Mr. Kachikwu to come him, majority of them thundered: “No! No!”

But Mr. Dogara said the “ayes” have it, nonetheless.

But the lawmakers refused to be intimidated, continuing with their chants.

After a few minutes into the commotion, the House demanded that journalists and other observers should excuse them, leaving only members in the plenary to continue what they described as “executive session.”

Why the lawmakers invited Mr. Kachikwu and still declined to give him audience to explain himself has left many in the chambers befuddled.

As at 1:00 p.m., the House has not reopened the plenary to reporters and Mr. Kachikwu’s whereabouts is unknown.

Credit: PremiumTimes

Offensive Odour In Chamber Forces Reps To Adjourn Plenary Till Nov 17

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Poor sanitary facilities including stinking toilets, a leaking roof, lack of water forced the House of Repre­sentatives to adjourn plenary abruptly due to an offensive odour which pervaded the chamber.

 

The overpowering stench made the environment un-conducive, following non-availability of water to take care of the toilets.

 

Deputy Speaker, Sulai­mon Yussuff Lasun, who presided at plenary, ad­journed sitting till Novem­ber 17 to allow an overhaul of the place, even as he as­sured his colleagues that the House Services Committee was handling the situation.

 

The member represent­ing Obubra/Etung Federal Constituency of Cross River State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Micheal Etaba raised a Point of Order where he lamented the entire environ­ment, both within and out­side the chamber, was full of offensive odour and that water was not running in his office.

 

He also told his colleagues that the chamber was not conducive as a result of the stench.

 

Lasun reiterated that the situation was being handled by the House Services Com­mittee and, thereafter, after exhausting motions on the day’s order paper, adjourned to next Tuesday.

 

Beside the persistent lack of water in the premises, monitors in the House do not show clearly, the cool­ing system is not function­ing well, microphones are no longer audible and, even the roof in the chamber is leaking.

 

Credit : Daily Sun

 

#Pausibility: Voices From The Hallowed Chambers by Adebayo Coker

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My dear President,

It will be too early in the day to start sending you notes but this is very important especially with the task you have before you. It is an enormous task and it is bothering me already how you will start. Just last week I asked that people should give you some space especially when we are awaiting some deliverables in about 80 days time. But as it is, my impatience to tone some words to you cannot endure a second longer.

Early March this year, I encountered one of the most gentlemen I ever come across in my short existence. He calls Jagaban Bola because they were contemporaries in Mobil. He acknowledged the sagacity of Bola on any given field of his interest. He was even jumping like a puppy while expressing his joy of being alive to witness your coming back to serve the nation. He congratulated my generation that we are so fortunate that we are going to have a feel of a man of integrity: a man like Buhari.

His words gave me a further push to love and respect you more.

But sir, how do we handle these many ‘political miners’ around you? No doubt they were instrumental to your emergence; as much as they are political assets to you so are they greater liability to the integrity path that we know you always tread. Sir, there is no way these guys will not stain your fine linen. Please sir, wisely keep them where they belong.

There is a former Vice President who hitherto has gone into political oblivion of some sort but now, he is back in town representing and nominating. I am sure you know his antecedents. Sir, if a man works for 50yrs in an oil company, earning the best salary and incentives that may be, what one of your party leaders display cannot come from such ‘hustle’. They abound around you sir. How will you and your party face it if your own searchlight will beam on others and not light your own house? Please and please tell them to give way so that we may see you. They are not transparent.

Let me quickly remind you and APC that PDP’s loss was due to their sheer political arrogance, not because Nigerians saw a better political party in the real sense of it. The same is already playing out in your party as someone is arrogating too much to himself. Self- seeking is not the best phrase to capture such incontinence. Though some of us see clearly that you are not a party to such party, but the doom will be too destructive such that your years of public service may be consumed by the implosion which we are already witnessing so early in the day of your party. I am not in support of any act of insubordination, especially against constituted authority and I am sure party discipline will be upheld against any infraction but for grown up men and women (though infantile sometimes) to be spoon-fed in the name of godfatherism being portrayed as party headship is not at all good for this democracy of ours, no matter how much nativity we may bring into it. I want to believe that was what the ‘party candidates’ suffered. Even though they appear robustly better and more experienced than the elected officers, the liability of being called ‘anointed candidates’ put them in contention with their colleagues who saw an opportunity to stem the extension of the greed of a particular party chieftain in their midst.

The politicians around here are not known for any ideological stand. Scheming is their major understanding of politics. That is why a sense of common sense can be suspended in the face of common sense to allow nonsense to freely reign. Be that as it may, that a man is ambitious and he goes all Machiavellian about it isn’t in anyway treacherous. Not at all. What is treacherous is the foul cry of the people who have before now seen nothing wrong in the grandmastery the medical doctor showed his own father and political benefactor. What is treacherous is the shout of arm- twisting by those who did not see a bank robber before now. What is treacherous is the sorrow expressed by the same set of people who had been joyful before now that they already have a hold on Ilorin Emirate courtesy of the defection of Bukola to APC. What is treacherous is the flight of Special Fraud Unit that left Lagos Airport with no passenger on board en route Ilorin Airport looking for looters. (There is a drought-infested borehole around Adebola Street in Surulere, Lagos : a constituency project of a member of the House of Rep) What is treacherous is the market cry of a loss when in truth nothing could be said to be missing when an armed robber visited a pick pocket: Ole gbe, ole gba!

The most treacherous in all of these events is the law or the system that is always blind to the emergence of robbers, pickpockets, rascals, paedophiles, jesters, prostitutes and suchlike in our hallowed Chambers in the first place. Of what dignity is such a conglomeration?Ordinary

“Saraki is a traitor!” was a common sentence on the lips of many analysts. The leftists or the rightists, (whichever way they were tuning from) would reply, “no, he is not”. Some said they are waiting to see the caliber of people the President would bring on board to work with him. Some said this list is too slow in coming but that they are hopeful they would not be disappointed eventually.

In all, I listened to people on the street, the ‘common man’ knows what he is talking about; in clusters they discussed the beauty of this new emergence in our politico-scope. The analyses and the conviction that comes with each analysis gladdens me that in no distant time people will realize that they won’t have to wait for a general election before they sack a government that they don’t like. That will be my ultimate joy in this whole democratic development and I am sure you will be gladdened by that too as that could be likened to the locomotive that brought you in.

I am glad I am witnessing the blossoming of democracy in my fatherland. We are really advancing.

I will continue my prayers for you.