‘How PDP crisis stalled Reps sessions’

The crisis which crept into the House mounted pressure on the leadership, thus compelling Speaker of the House Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to keep adjourning plenary sessions to stave off tension, a source close to the leadership disclosed.Shortly after lawmakers believed to be sympathetic to the Bamanga-led leadership of the party booed members of the Abubakar […]

The crisis which crept into the House mounted pressure on the leadership, thus compelling Speaker of the House Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to keep adjourning plenary sessions to stave off tension, a source close to the leadership disclosed.
Shortly after lawmakers believed to be sympathetic to the Bamanga-led leadership of the party booed members of the Abubakar Baraje-led splinter group during a visit to the House, legislators belonging to the latter group were said to have vowed to block any matter coming from the executive.
Some members, Daily Trust source said, had gone further, mounting pressure on theleadership to allow them introduce impeachment process against President Goodluck Jonathan over alleged non-implementation of budgets and sundry constitutional breaches, a move which the Speaker is said to have opposed.
The source said members of the new PDP who have now reached 102, “actually vowed to reject any executive bill sent by President Jonathan or sponsored by any member of the old PDP as a revenge for the fracas which ensued when the Abubakar Baraje faction visited the House last month.”
This, he said, compelled House Leader Rep Mulikat Adeola-Akande to withdraw the 2013 budget of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) which came up for second reading a day after Baraje’s visit.
The House suspended plenary on September 19 and asked members to proceed on a one-week oversight to ministries and MDGs in preparation to receive the 2014 Appropriation Bill. But when they returned on October 2, House spokesman Zakari Mohammed announced a one-week extension on October 3.
Mohammed had said: “House plenary is going on break in continuation of oversight functions and will last up till 12th of this month after which we will proceed on the Sallah (the Eid-el-Kabir) break and come back on 22nd October. From now to 22nd, you can see that it’s like three weeks.”
But Daily Trust learnt that the extension was not unconnected to alleged instability in the House.
 “It was not true that the additional period given for oversight was solely for that purpose. What really happened was that after we returned from our annual recess and some PDP members engaged themselves in that fight (when Baraje-led PDP visited the House), the whole of the House became tensed up.
“Tambuwal and his team observed that and decided that in order to douse tension, members should go on one-week oversight. When we returned, the tension was still there, so they had no option than to extend the period,” the source close to the leadership said.
During the Baraje visit, some lawmakers belonging to the Bamanga Tukur-led faction stormed the venue and had a brawl with their colleagues who are sympathetic to the new PDP group.
The shouting match prevented Baraje’s speech from being heard.
Another source who spoke to our reporters said members of the splinter group have resolved a revenge, and will do so even during consideration of the 2014 budget “because of what they have seen during the recent oversight.
“We have started because any bill or motion sponsored by any of them or sent in by the government would be killed.
“Members are angry with the executive for failing to implement the budget by embarking on selective releases. In fact I can tell you that since 1999, this is the first time we are running a government without budget because we have confirmed that the executive is implementing the draft budget proposal submitted by the President last year.
“They ignored all the subsequent amendments done which is a gross violation of the budget and the constitution, and also an impeachable offense,” the lawmaker said.
A second reason the speaker kept adjourning plenary sittings, according to the lawmaker, is because of pressure from his colleagues who were not paid their quarterly running cost.
“Any time there is delay in the payment of the allowances some members do turn to the speaker, thereby putting him under serious distress,” the source said.
However, House spokesman Mohammed insisted that the House extended its oversight in order to give members ample time to assess the performance of the 2013 budget so far, arguing that the House remains stable.
Speaking to our reporter by telephone, he dismissed insinuation that the House was in a state of instability, saying it was the imagination of some people.
On allegations that the break might not be unconnected with the fact that the House was broke, Mohammed said: “If we didn’t have money, we’ll come out and tell you that we’re broke.”
Meanwhile, our reporters learnt that Tambuwal has begun to broker truce; he has appointed Deputy House Leader Rep Leo Ogor to reach out to members of the nPDP.
National Publicity Secretary of the New PDP, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, when contacted, said the suspicion that the House may have gone on recess to stave off crisis remains a mere speculation.
He said though the new PDP members are the majority in the House, it cannot go on recess for fear of not entertaining bills from the executive as, he said, the President is the leader of party and the members are ready to cooperate with him on issues that would move the country forward.
He said in any case the nPDP members in the House have not alerted the party that they are having problems for it to intervene and pleaded that the House be given the benefit of doubt since it said it was going on recess to carry out oversight functions.
National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh was not available for comment as he did not respond to calls.