No Retreat, No Surrender: Storm in the House over nPDP

Last Tuesday, the House of Representatives  had a  rowdy session immediately after  Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal read a letter proposing a courtesy visit by the Abubakar Kawu Baraje -led faction of the new Peoples  Democratic Party, PDP.

After saying the day’s prayer at about 11.05am  and delivering his welcome back speech to his colleagues who just returned from recess, Tambuwal proceeded to read a communication from President Goodluck Jonathan on the transmission of the 2014-2016 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper, and followed that with the letter, asking for the visit by Baraje.

The lawmakers were instantly split. The drama started with the shouts of ‘no,’ ‘no’ by members of the old PDP, as well as arguments to the effect that PDP is no longer the majority party in the House, implying that Tambuwal’s leadership was no longer tenable.

Leading the pack of the nPDP, as the Baraje PDP is called, was Rep Abdulmunin Jibrin, House Committee Chairman on Finance representing Kano State  and Rep Dakuku Peterside of Rivers State.

Attempts to restore order by the Chief Whip, Rep Isiaka Bawa, failed as members of the old PDP and the new bloc turned the floor of the House into a market place.

The Speaker had to repeatedly call the legislators by their first names and their various positions before order could be restored.

As soon as normalcy returned after the disruption that lasted for almost 30 minutes , Tambuwal announced that he had also earlier “received a communication from Chairman of our great party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, on the same subject matter” asking for a meeting with the PDP caucus, but that Tukur “withdrew his own letter early this morning.”

The Speaker however explained that he could not read Tukur’s letter on the basis of the withdrawal. He said the issue was a PDP affair and could not be debated on the floor of the House.

The Baraje team was billed to meet the PDP caucus in the House at 3.00pm.
Rep Kingsley Chinda rose through a motion on a matter of urgent national importance and cautioned that what had just transpired on the floor may send a wrong interpretation to Nigerians outside, and prayed the House to pass a vote of confidence on its leadership under Tambuwal.

He argued that whatever that was happening on the political scene outside should not in any way affect the activities of the House. “We remain a united House,” he stated, and advised members to ignore the imperious publicity directed at creating disunity in the House.

”We all saw the welcome parade here this morning but the papers were all awash that the House was going to war.”
He noted that as a sign of the unity of the House  let us pass a vote of confidence on this leadership.

Rep Toby Okechukwu, PDP, representing Aninri/Oji River Constituency, Enugu State seconded the motion., saying “we should be mindful about what we say about our  leadership that has been  giving us a good sense of direction”.

The motion was unanimously adopted.

Earlier while welcoming back members from the over two months annual recess, Tambuwal said he had no doubt “that we are returning more reinforced with constituency duties arising from the expectations of our constituents as well as the needs which we have become ceased of through our observations, interactions and experiences”.


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