Briefing House of Representatives
correspondents at the weekend, Sam-Tsokwa said”it is glaring that the APC
publicity secretary was not conversant with our House rules when he said the
Deputy Speaker manipulated the proceedings on the motion bordering on the $9.3m
arms deal in South Africa”.
“The DS acted as a patriotic
Nigerian as he considered the interest of Nigerians above any political lineage
following our House standing Orders to the latter”.
“The motion in question was an
investigative one seeking investigation into the alleged arms deal in South
Africa which does not need any debate as this might jeopardise the proposed
investigation”.
Vanguard recalls that in the wake of
the arms deal, the matter came up in the form of a motion on the floor of the
House last Tuesday, but Ihedioha, who presided over plenary that day, did not
allow debate on the motion, citing ‘national security.’ He later called for a
voice vote and majority of the lawmakers voted against it.
This development did not go down
well with some lawmakers, most of whom are of the opposition All Progressives
Congress ,APC, who staged a walk out from the floor immediately Ihedioha ruled.
The motion, sponsored by Deputy
Minority Leader Abdulrahman Kawu Sulaiman,APC, Kano sought for a thorough
investigation into the matter.
But Tsokwa argued at the briefing
that what Ihedioha did was in line with the relevant rules of the House, which
do not allow debate on infrastructure related, security and investigative
matters.
He explained that “the House is
precluded from discussing any issue that is pending in court. Our rules also
say motions on infrastructure, security and investigation are not to be
debated. The motion on $9.3 million seeks an investigation, so it shouldn’t,
couldn’t and mustn’t have been debated. That was exactly what happened,” Tsokwa
said.
Tsokwa further stressed that “the
mover wasn’t supposed to take it that day, because it wasn’t on the Order
Paper. He insisted on taking it because he said he was away on Speaker’s
errand. But any matter that is not on the Notice Paper can’t be included on the
Order Paper. Some members were against taking the motion, but the Deputy
Speaker allowed him.”
The Taraba state lawmaker explained
that going by parliamentary rules, if any member is not satisfied with a
particular decision taken, such a member would call for the House to be divided
based on the ‘ayes’ and the ‘nays,’ saying walking out was not appropriate.
“The decision wasn’t taken on the
basis of party. It wasn’t all APC members that voted against it and vice-versa.
Let me use this medium to call on our leaders to stop making provocative
statements that will tear this country apart. If you’re ignorant of how the
House operates, I’ll advise that you keep your mouth shut,” he said.
from vanguard
0 comments:
Post a Comment