The crisis rocking the House of Representatives over the election of principal officers triggered a free-for-all at during the plenary on Thursday.
Reports that the members cast decorum aside as they physically assaulted each other over the election of House principal officers.
The House has been fractured by manouvres over the filling of the remaining four principal offices of the House – House Leader, Deputy House Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip.
The Leadership of the All Progressives Congress who are generally known to be protégés of the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had written the leadership of the House indicating their preferences for the positions, but the Speaker and his allies insist that the candidates should emerge from different caucuses in the House.
Dogara, like his Senate counterpart Bukola Saraki, on Thursday allegedly refused to read the letter from the party leadership.
The House in the matter was divided into two factions, one supporting the ruling All Progressives Congress, which seeks to choose the House principal officers, and another, backing the the speaker, Yakubu Dogara, who insists on defying the party.
Thursday’s crisis started as the speaker arrived at the House to commence plenary.
Shortly after settling in, APC members began to raise points of order as some lawmakers rushed for the mace, the symbol of authority of the House.
The honourable member who represents Zango/Baure Federal Constituency of Katsina state on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nasiru Sani Zangon Daura, told pressmen in Abuja that the freE-for-all was precipitated by what he called the illegal and unconstitutional action which the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, had taken.
Nasiru described the Speaker’s action as being in his usual tradition of total disregard to the wishes of the majority members of the APC’s Caucus, the party itself and the spirit of the party.
Nasiru spoke on behalf of the APC House Caucus.
according to him, they are aware of a letter sent by APC’s national leadership conveying the approval of the party’s principal officers vis a vis the APC House leader, the APC chief whip, the APC deputy House leader and the APC deputy chief whip for the House of Representatives
He said, “This letter by the Party is in compliance with the expressed wish and mandate of the Majority Members of the All Progressives Congress APC Caucus in the House of Representatives.
“This action of the Party and the APC House Caucus is in compliance with the Nigerian Constitution, the House Rules and Parliamentary tradition, practices and precedents in Nigeria and all over the World. But to our surprise and in breach of our privileges and rights as contained in the Constitution and extant House Rules, Mr. Speaker refused to read the letter from our party.”
