In a move reminiscent of hostage taking, the past time of militants in the Niger Delta, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Patricia Etteh, was yesterday held captive for several hours on the floor of the House.
The House resumed plenary session yesterday after a two-week break and was expected to begin the consideration of the David Idoko panel report.
But confusion enveloped the House when lawmakers rooting for Etteh�s removal refused to allow her leave the chambers after the House adjourned till today.
Members of the Integrity Group, the umbrella group for those opposed to the Speaker, held Etteh hostage insisting that the House could not adjourn until the Speaker stepped down for the Idoko panel report to be considered.
The crisis rocking the House over the controversial N529 million renovation contract has, however, begun to take its toll even on state matters.
President Umaru Musa Yar�Adua is said to have shelved the planned presentation tomorrow of the 2008 Appropriation bill to a joint session of the National Assembly over the problem. The presentation will now hold on November 8.
Etteh arrived the already tensed House yesterday at 10:10 am under tight security.
After prayers and approval of votes and proceedings, five House members presented petitions from their constituents.
Hon. Emma Jim, the former Speaker of Benue State House of Assembly, was the first to raise a point of order which caused an unusual calm in the House.
He cited Order 9 sub Rule 11 calling attention to dress code and pointing out that his colleague from Kogi State, Hon. Dino David Melaye, was not properly dressed.
But the House Whip, Hon. Bethel Amadi, was quick to dismiss the order, saying Melaye was properly dressed.
The Chairman of the Ad- hoc Committee on the Investigation of Poor GSM Services in the country, Hon Leo Ogo, was later called upon to present the report.
But as Etteh moved to preside over the consideration of the report of the Idoko panel that investigated the controversial renovation contract, the Leader of the opposition in the House, Hon. Mohammed Ali Ndume, quickly cited Order 5 Rules 2 and 5.
Ndume who had earlier held an opposition meeting before the House resumed plenary said he was embarrassed that since the House went into an executive session and agreed that no member including the leadership should discuss the contract matter till the consideration of the report, both the Speaker, her group and those opposed to her had freely violated the agreement.
Ndume said the lawmakers were ambushing themselves and rubbishing the House on the pages of newspapers.
�My prayer is that the Speaker should allow somebody else to preside over this report,� he added.
The House instantly roared with applause for Ndume.
Lawmakers opposed to the Speaker began distributing flags and the atmosphere was getting heated.
The Sergeant- At-Arms numbering over 12 quickly gathered round the mace to protect it from being snatched by the warring groups.
As the commotion started, a seemingly unruffled Etteh was merely rolling her seat from one side to the other.
The opposition lawmakers led by some amazons in the House, Mercy Almona Isei and Lynda Chuba Ipkeazu, mobilised themselves and began singing- �all we are saying, Speaker must step down.�
But as the confusion persisted, the opposition members, refusing to be weighed down, began singing the National Anthem this time led by Abike Dabiri and Juliet Akano.
As the House became uncontrollable, the Speaker�s loyalists Melaye and House Leader, Hon. Tunde Akogun, walked to Etteh to confer with her while more of the opposition members continued singing the National Anthem.
In the midst of the confusion, Akogun raised a motion for adjournment without using the microphone.
The House Leader moved the motion at about 11:43am but many members might not have heard him due to the rowdiness and confusion that had taken over the floor.
As the Speaker made attempts to leave the chambers and walked to the mace so that the Sergeant- at- Arms could escort her out, members of the Integrity Group stopped her in her tracks insisting that she must step aside before leaving the chambers.
Those at the forefront of the daring move included Dabiri, Halims Agoda, Almona-Isei and Ikpeazu just to mention a few.
As the rowdiness continued, the former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, walked into the gallery to monitor proceedings.
The Speaker walked back to her seat just as the Whip, Hon Bethel Amadi, conferred with the arrow head of the Integrity Group, Hon. Farouk Lawman, so they could reach a compromise on how to resolve the log jam.
Farouk moved round calming down the lawmakers. And as Akogun stood up saying the House stands adjourned, Ag-oda started another round of shouting saying, �No, No, Aluta continua.�
After the confusion, Ako-gun again announced the adjournment till 10am this morning, which is unlike the normal practice of the House to resume sitting by 2pm.
This time the adjournment was generally accepted. Etteh was led out of the chambers by a retinue of Sergeant-at-Arms and some plain-clothes security men who had mounted sentry at the entrance of the chambers to escort her to her office.
Soon after the House adjourned, the Integrity group insisted that a Speaker Pro tempore must be elected to preside over the House as members consider the report of the Idoko panel.
The stand-off, which started at exactly 10.45 am and lasted till 12.55, clearly showed the cleavages in the House.
Some of the members were chanting �All we are saying, Speaker step down�; �All we are saying, Etteh must Go� and �E se, e se o, e wa ma lo,� meaning �Thank you, thank you, you can now go.�
Addressing the press after the session, Lawan said the group had resolved that a Speaker Pro Tempore must be elected to preside over today�s session.
�By tomorrow (Wedn-esday), this House shall elect a Speaker Pro tempore and we will dispassionately deliberate on this report and will ensure that whoever is guilty we will make sure faces the law. For us today (Tuesday), it is the beginning of victory for the House of Representatives, for the National Assembly, for our democracy and for Nigeria in general,� he said.
Lawan maintained that members of the Integrity group had clearly demonstrated �that the so-called numbers they have been bandying around, 240 or 260� was a ruse.
�Some of us were blackmailed to having been pursuing the whole thing because we lost out of juicy committees. Perhaps what they failed to say is that those of them who are not towing the path of honour and defending the position that is clearly indefensible, were perhaps doing it so that they could cling to the juicy committees they were given either by the goddaughter or indirectly by the godfather who installed the goddaughter,� he said.
Oshiomhole, who witnessed the session and was part of the press conference of the Integrity Group, described Etteh as an embarrassment to democracy.
The former NLC President said he would personally mobilise NLC and Trade Union Congress and other affiliate organisations against the Speaker.
Also addressing the press, the South-south legislators in the House asked the Speaker to resign.
The Leader of group, Hon Andrew Uchendu said, �Members of the South -south Parliamentary Caucus met and took a critical look at what is happening in the House. What happened in the House today has taken us back many years, and we cannot continue to watch.
But there was an obvious strain in the South -south hierarchy as some members of the caucus said there was never a time they agreed that the Speaker should resign.
Chairman, Business and Rules Committee, Hon Ita Enang, at a press briefing said at no time did the caucus agreed to ask Etteh to resign.
He, however, said he was not going to take issues with any camp.
But President Yar�Adua may have dropped the idea of presenting the appropriation bill to the House tomorrow.
The Federal Executive Council had on October 2, 2007 approved a provisional figure of N2.37 trillion for next year.
Though there was no official statement to the effect that the budget presentation had been shelved, reliable Presidency sources, however, confirmed the cancellation, citing the on-going crisis of confidence in the lower chamber of the National Assembly as reason.
�There is no way the President can go there under the present circumstance. There is no peace there now and we have to wait a little for them to resolve the issue before Mr. President can go there,� the source said.
THISDAY learnt the President had yesterday convened a meeting of the Special Committee on Budget Implementation made up of a number of ministers, officials of the budget office and other top government functionaries to put final touches to the document.
The Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Aderemi Babalola, had told State House Correspondents that government was still consulting with the ministries, parastatals and other relevant tiers of government to clearly define areas of responsibilities before the document could be presented.
But it was gathered that the real reason behind the development was the contract saga presently rocking the House.
Oct172007