The
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has explained
that he was unable to act on the letter forwarded to him by the
leadership of the All Progressives Congress because of a pending court
case.
Speaking at a parley with former House Representatives
members, Representative Dogara, however, said that the fracas that
occurred in the House of Reps chambers last Thursday (June 25) was
inexcusable and unacceptable.
The Speaker said
that although he had wanted to act on the party’s letter nominating some
persons as principal officers of the House, as a law abiding citizen he
was compelled to do otherwise as a result of a pending court case
instituted by about 36 APC lawmakers from the North Central zone.
The
APC lawmakers alleged that the party had schemed them out in violation
of constitutional provision on Federal Character Principle.
He
said that the tradition has been that the six principal positions are
shared evenly among the six geopolitical zones of the country in
accordance with the Federal Character Principle.
The national
leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had decided on the
party’s position on principal officers of the 8th House of
Representatives.
According to reports from the National Assembly
on Tuesday, June 23 2015, the APC had written to the Speaker of the
House, Yakubu Dogara, listing out the lawmakers that should fill the
party’s remaining four leadership positions.
For House Leader,
Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila from South-west zone was selected and
Honourable Ado Doguwa of the North-west zone was nominated for the
position of Deputy House Leader.
Honourable Mohammed Monguno
from the North-east zone was chosen as the Chief Whip while Honourable
Pally Iriase from the South-south zone was selected for Deputy Chief
Whip.
Plenary at the House of Representatives was disrupted by
some members over the nomination of principal officers. The disruption
on Thursday by some lawmakers, who protested a call by the Speaker for
an Executive Session, turned the session into a rowdy one.
Credit: Channels
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