When news filtered in last week of the lifting of suspension on Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu and six others by Ngeria’s leading opposition political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it was mixed reactions. JOSHUA EGBODO writes on the likely implications of the fresh development
The Genesis
The 9th House of Representatives, after inauguration on June 11, 2019 went on a two week recess, apparently to prepare well for the legislative tasks ahead, and also to allow for some logistic activities to be completed, especially the allocation of office spaces and chamber seats to members.
When back in session on Tuesday July 2, 2019, all was seen to be normal until signs emerged that there were issues with the appointment of principal officers. It was widely assumed that the House on resumption would, through the then newly-elected Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila announce the remaining principal officers, as was done in the Senate. However, this was not the case, as the ad hoc committee on media surprisingly announced to journalists that there was need for more consultations on the matter.
Beside the positions of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, which were filled at the inauguration of the House on June 11, by Gbajabiamila and Hon. Idris Wase respectively, the other offices waiting to be filled then were those of the Majority Leader, the Minority Leader, Chief Whip, Minority Whip, Deputy Majority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Deputy Whip and the Minority Whip.
Speculations in the air
There were speculations before then, that the announcement was being delayed following disagreements within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), over who should be appointed. On the majority leadership position specifically, there were reports that the then National Chairman of the party, Mr. Adams Oshiomole, and Kano state governor, Abdulahi Ganduje were bickering over who should be appointed to the post.
Trouble manifested
At the plenary of the House the following day, the brewing issues were openly ignited. Deep into the session, Gbajabiamila attempted to make announcement of the minority principal officers, but he was interrupted by Hon. Kingsley Chinda, who apparently may have been privy to the content of the list from which the speaker was to announce names.
Chinda, the lawmaker from Rivers state raised a point of order, and reminded Gbajabiamila that there was need for him to abide by a list already sent by the PDP, as the mode of selection of the names therein had complied with the House’s standing orders, on Order 7, Rule 8.
PDP in its communication to the speaker had named Chinda as Minority Leader, Chukwuka Onyema as Deputy Minority Leader, Yakubu Barde as Minority Whip, and Ajibola Muraina as Deputy Minority Whip. However, the list before Gbajabiamila, which was later made public as the one from the “conglomeration” of all the minority political parties in the House had Ndudi Elumelu, Toby Okechukwu, Gideon Gwani and Adekoya Adesegun for those positions in that repetitive order.
Session turned rowdy
The plenary of the House later turned chaotic as the disagreement raged. Some members attempted to snatch the mace, as others moved to prevent them. The session was momentarily disrupted, after which Gbajabiamila was urged by some of his colleagues to continue with the announcement. He subsequently announced the minority group, led by Elumelu as the minority principal officers of the House.
Dual opposition leadership
Two opposing groups of minority principal officers emerged, and held on to the right of office. Chinda who was ruled out of order by Gbajabiamila during the session insisted that Gbajabiamila’s action was an imposition on the minority caucus. Speaking after the chaotic plenary, Chinda led his group of supporters to a media briefing, explaining that “We speak to you as members of the minority caucus in the House ofRepresentatives…. The issues are that of minority leadership. It is standard parliamentary practice, that minority leadership comes from among the minority parties and a correspondence is always sent….In our case, that was followed. The PDP in discussion with other minority parties agreed on her leadership in parliament. And forwarded a letter to Mr Speaker dated June 21, 2019. A copy of the letter was received on June 26 in the office of the Speaker.
“We came today only to hear our dear speaker attempting to read what he termed as correspondence from a conglomeration of minority political parties. That some honourable members have endorsed some other persons as minority leaders outside what was forwarded to him. And that he would want to adopt that .
“We must do things properly. We are members of the minority party. Our leadership will not be determined by the majority party. We are aware of the scheming of the APC that the target is to decimate the minority party in parliament and that they will decide who becomes minority leader. We will not allow that to happen. We stand on the letter from the party. As far we are concerned, our leaders have been selected and appointed by the party. It is only for the Speaker to read the correspondence that he has. We don’t have any issue with our leadership”.
Immediately after, however, Elumelu also with a group of supporters met with journalists covering the House to state their own position. According to the lawmaker, “We are here to speak to Nigerians and also to reaffirm the newly appointed minority leaders of this Green Chamber (House of Representatives). Graciously, God has made it that my colleagues from nine minority parties have nominated me as their minority leader. We are all from nine political parties.
“For us who are from PDP we are very loyal to PDP. We believe in PDP, and of course, we have no other party than the PDP and we have followed what has happened and have accepted our nomination based on Order 7 Rule 8. We have complied with the position of the rule of the house.
House’s position
The House as an institution, however, appeared to have settled for the Elumelu-led group. Addressing the press on the same day too, Hon. Yusuf Adamu on behalf of the then House’s ad hoc committee on media justified the action of the speaker, as according to him, “the House is guided by rules, and it does not recognize only one political party to form the minority leadership”.
Elumelu, Six others suspended by PDP
While the drama lasts in the House, the PDP slammed an indefinite suspension on Elumelu and six others. With official naming of Elumelu and the others, apparently backed by the PDP, Chinda remained defiant, prompting the speaker to issue a caution that “nobody should test the resolve of the ninth assembly of this House. If you try, you will regret it”. In response, Hon. Mark Gbillah from Benue state told the speaker that his statement was tantamount to “a threat” against members, to which Gbajabiamila replied that Gbillah should “go and check your dictionary to know the difference between threat and warning”.
Others suspended by the PDP alongside Elumelu were Hon. Wole Oke, Hon. Lynda Ikpeazu, Hon. Anayo Edwin, Hon. Gideon Gwani, Hon. Toby Okechukwu and Hon. Adekoya Addul-Majid. The lawmakers were accused of leading a rebellion against the party.
Suspension lifted
In a dramatic twist least expected, the PDP last week lifted the suspension on the affected members, as announced through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan.
Minority Caucus happy
In a swift reaction to the announcement, Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives, through Elumelu in a statement hailed the PDP for lifting the suspension on him and six of his colleagues, expressing optimism that the challenges around the leadership of the caucus had been finally laid to rest.
“By this, the leadership of our great party has justified the enormous confidence we have always reposed in the creativity of our great party to deal with internal challenges as well as the challenges of this country.
”Therefore, we specially thank the leadership of our great party, particularly the National Working Committee (NWC), our governors, the Board of Trustees, and our party elders and faithful for their understanding and show of leadership when it mattered most. We equally want to thank our colleagues for their support. The PDP in the House of Representatives is one. The PDP in the National Assembly is also one big family.
”Working collectively, we shall pull Nigeria from the brinks, ensuring that our nation overcomes the present dire circumstances characterised by rudderlessness, poverty, economic woes, unprecedented insecurity, unparalleled divisions, and the steady disarticulation of our hard-won democracy and the fine principles, blessings, and promises it holds for our people”, Elumelu said in the statement.
Of what impact?
To many analysts, the suspension was just a Micky mouse freedom for the affected lawmakers. The body language of the PDP to such pundits, and in some perceived practical demonstrations, Chinda who has carefully adopted “Leader of the PDP Caucus” in the House still controls a lot of the opposition members, and will continue to enjoy the support of the party. The party in its announcement also did not hide its willingness to continue to recognize the Chinda-led group.
In the opinion of many, Elumelu is seen in the light of being just a pencil in the hands of Gbajabiamila, and also roundly accused of trivializing serious national issues like the raging insecurity, leaving the move and call for impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari to the Chinda-led group. With such considerations, the question has been between Elumelu and Chinda, who will really lead the House of Representatives’ opposition lawmakers, in spite of the lift of suspension on the supposed dissident PDP members?
