THERE appears to be crack in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the House of Representatives over the defection of the Speaker, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, as both the House Leader, Honourable Mulikat Adeola-Akande and her deputy, Honourable Leo Ogor, traded blames over the knowledge of the defection.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, on Tuesday, the House Leader confirmed that she attended the meeting of the principal officers of the House, which took place at the guest house of the Deputy Speaker the previous night of Tambuwal’s defection, where it was agreed that the House should adjourn till December 3, adding that the issue of defection was never mentioned.
According to her, “nothing was said as to whether he (Tambuwal) was moving or not, though it was in the media and everybody was talking about it.”
Defending herself on the motion for adjournment which she moved, Adeola-Akande said “just this morning (yesterday), I heard Honourable Osagie saying on NTA that the leader moved the motion for adjournment and from the way he said it, it was like something that was done unilaterally.
“As you all know, it is my job as the leader of the House to move motions for adjournment, but that adjournment on that particular day was not usual.”
According to her, prior to the session, the leadership met the day before and deliberated on the adjournment issue.
“They asked me to liaise with the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, to know when the Senate will be going on recess, which I did and I informed them.
“When I told them that the Senate would be going for one week and resume on November 4, our colleagues gave various reasons why one week would not be enough for them and we finally agreed.
“Based on our prior agreement, we went to the chamber the second day for the plenary. The issue of the defection was all in the newspapers on that day and when it was not announced at that particular time, I came to my deputy, I said ‘Leo, is the Speaker not moving again?’ And he said ‘he is not doing it again’.
“I’m saying this without fear of anybody. Not quite five minutes, another member came to me and said ‘I spoke with the Speaker this morning and he said he was going to move today.’ I again leaned towards my deputy and said, ‘Leo, somebody just whispered to me that the Speaker is moving today.’ Instead, he said ‘hold on, hold on,’ as he wanted to listen to what the person on the floor was saying at that particular time. When it got to the time of consideration, I even got up and told the Deputy Speaker that I want to go to the clerk’s office to have a drink of coffee.
“When the Deputy Speaker was presiding over the Committee of the Whole, I got up to go out for the coffee, and he said no please, sit down we will soon finish. I told him it was a cup of coffee I wanted to take at the clerk’s office and come back, and he kept saying, ‘no, wait, we will soon finish.’ After the whole thing, I was hearing some people saying it was the leader who moved the motion unilaterally.
“I feel it is necessary to clear the air. I am a very honourable person and I will not say anything that has not happened. I fear only the Almighty God. And at the end of the session, the Speaker said, ‘Leader, move for the adjournment and I leaned towards the deputy speaker and said, ‘is it as agreed? He said ‘yes.’ I got up and moved for the adjournment. And he said, Leo second. And he did. It was at that point that the Speaker now read the statement about his defection,” she said.
According to her, there was no way she could have moved for the adjournment if others had not agreed on it, adding that “you can cross-check from all the other members, that was exactly what happened.”
Reacting, Ogor insisted that it was not true that he had the knowledge that Tambuwal would defect that very day, adding that “there was no sign or notion that he wanted to defect on that day.”
According to Ogor, “for someone to allege that Ogor was aware that the speaker would defect on that day, it must be the imagination of that person.”
Ogor, also on Tuesday, faulted the position of the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus in the House that nobody has the power to reconvene the House except the Speaker, describing the position as nothing but “falsehood and misleading.”
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, he said “I want to put the records straight, APC and its members should stop dishing out falsehood to the members of the public.
“To reconvene the House, we don’t need the consent of the Speaker, moreso when it is the issue of his defection we want to deliberate upon. He cannot be a judge over his own matter. In this case, his deputy will have to step in and preside over the sitting.”
Ogor, who vowed that the House would not tolerate a situation where the minority party would want to be controlling its proceeding, said if there was the need, the House would definitely reconvene, in line with its Standing Rules.
“We will follow due process to reconvene the House if need be. The APC and its members should be careful about what they say and their actions,” he said.
Meanwhile, PDP lawmakers in the House of Representatives have raised a committee to fashion out ways to deal with the issue of Tambuwal’s defection.
The committee, named Strategy Committee, made up of lawyers, was set up during a meeting between the national leadership of PDP and the lawmakers, on Monday.
The meeting which took place at the National Executive Committee (NEC) hall of the national secretariat, started at about 8.00 p.m.
The party chairman left the venue of the meeting at about 9.30 p.m, telling reporters that the meeting was going fine.
The setting up of the committee confirmed the plan by the PDP to retrieve the speakership position from Tambuwal, who had defected to APC.
Sources in the meeting told the Nigerian Tribune that the party leadership did not want to table Tambuwal’s issue because of the presence of “Tambuwal’s men” in the meeting.
Source: Tribune
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