Unruly Members Turned Assembly into House Of Chaos n Anarchy

A show of disgrace was exhibited by people that are supposed to be called leaders as members of the House charged on one another for supremacy.  
For about one and half hours, members were in riot mood following an attempt by allies of the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to compel Speaker Yakubu Dogara to announce the list of principal officers of the House as dictated by the party. Speaker Dogara’s rebuff and bid to steer the House into a closed-door session was equally challenged by supporters of the APC national executive who apparently came prepared for a showdown.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in its reaction apologised on behalf of the House to Nigerians but called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call his party men in the House to order. Meanwhile, the APC was unapologetic over its intervention as it last night stood by the list of nominees for principal offices of the National Assembly.

The party in a statement issued by its National Secretary, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni nevertheless, condemned the riot on the floor of the House. Also, Presidency sources said, yesterday, that the President would not intervene in the issue to avoid being seen as supporting any of the contending sides in the House. Following opening prayers and other formalities, yesterday, Speaker Dogara had at about 11.08 a.m. announced that the House would go into closed session to discuss some issues of concern to the House.

He hardly finished speaking when a member of the APC in a flowing gown rose up, shouting that the Speaker should announce the list of principal officers sent to him by the national chairman of the party.

That list as published in several national newspapers, yesterday, had directed the speaker to announce Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila from Lagos State in the South-West Zone as House Leader; Alhassan Ado Doguwa from Kano State as Deputy Leader; Mohammed Monguno from the North-east as Chief Whip and Pally Iriase from Edo State in the South-South as Deputy Chief Whip.

The demand of the party as articulated through the letter by the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun was, however, said to have violated the principle of federal character as it left the North-Central and South-east geopolitical zones out of the ranking, while giving two positions to the North-east and South-West. At about 11.05 a.m. just after Rep Orker-Jev Emmanuel Yisa, stood up to move the motion for the House to move into closed door session, some members rose up and started chanting Party is Supreme! They demanded that the speaker should read out the letter from the national chairman. Some of the members raised placards with inscriptions that read: “Party is supreme.”

Supporters of the Gbajabiamila group met up till 3.00 a.m. during which they resolved that they would not allow any other thing to be done except the letter from the party is read. The decision of the group, it was gathered, was to pre-empt the House going into a closed door session where Dogara was expected to fetch the names of the leaders as elected by the various geopolitical zones in the House. As the protesters started descending towards the floor, officers of the Sergeant-at-Arms formed a protective cordon around the mace of the House. The presence of the officials of the Sergeant-at-Arms, however, did not deter the chanting APC members. While they were at it, loyalists of the speaker also descended towards the table leading to shoving here and there.

Inevitably, the fracas drew out supporters of the speaker who also rushed to form a protective cordon around him. A member from Cross-River State butted a member from the South-west with his head, while the attire of a loyalist of the speaker from the South-West was torn to shreds in the melee.

Meanwhile by the table, it was a ding-dong affair for the mace as opponents and supporters of the speaker struggled for the mace, and eventually, supporters of the speaker got the upper hand and the mace was taken away by the Sergeant-at-Arms. With the mace out of the table, officially signalling an end to deliberations, Speaker Dogara vacated his seat on the upper dais and descended to the seat of the clerk, a chair otherwise reserved for the chairman of the Committee of the Whole House. There was a protective cordon mounted by several members around him as they dared the rioters to come near. The speaker was not in any way physically ruffled and from time to time he looked down at the bedlam around him.