The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, yesterday frustrated moves by the lawmakers to discuss the health of President Umaru Yar’Adua and calls for him to handover power to the vice president, Goodluck Jonathan.
The Action Congress (AC) leader in the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, had invoked Order 5 (1) (2) of the House Standing Rules and the Seventh Schedule of the 1999 Constitution dealing with the Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office of the President and said “there is an issue that is prompt and central in the country right now. Section 145 rules out any possible act of vacuum in the country.”
“Sit down”
However, when Mr. Gbajabiamila was about to read the relevant section of the constitution, Mr. Bankole stopped him, saying “I rule you out of order. Sit down.”
The speaker resisted attempts by Mr. Gbajabiamila to continue, forcing him to sit down in anger.
Section 145 states that “Whenever the president transmits to the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such functions shall be discharged by the vice-president as acting president.”
The AC Caucus had, last week, urged the ailing president to follow the constitution and transfer powers to Mr. Jonathan pending his recovery and return to the country.
Other issues
Mr. Bankole also directed the joint committees on foreign affairs and Diaspora to investigate the circumstances leading to the death of a Nigerian student last week in Cyprus.
Samson Osagie (PDP-Edo) had asked the House to allow him bring a motion of urgent public importance on the killing of a Nigerian whom he did not name.
According to him, the corpse was brought to Nigeria and dumped at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos by some people who connived with the Nigeria embassy in Cyprus. He added that all efforts to find out the circumstances leading to the death were unsuccessful.
When Mr. Bankole put to vote whether the matter should be discussed as urgent public importance however, members voted against it. Nevertheless, the speaker asked the foreign affairs and Diaspora committee to investigate the matter.
The House also constituted a nine-member committee to look into the constitutionality of the $200 million loan obtained by the Abia state government and advise it on the next line of action.
The ad-hoc committee will also investigate the constitutionality or otherwise of loans obtained by other states without recourse to the National Assembly.
The committee is chaired by the Chief Whip, Emeka Iheodioha. The other members include Chile Igbawua (Benue), Bala Ibn Na’Allah (Kebbi), Habeeb Fashinro (Lagos) and Cyril Maduabum (Anambra). Others are; Ita Enang (Akwa-Ibom), Halims Agoda (Delta), Mustapha Ahmed (Bauchi), Nimota Suleiman (Kwara) and Chairman, House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management, Abdulazeez Yari Abubakar.
Mr. Agoda had, in a motion, questioned the legality of the loan without the approval of the federal legislature in line with the Debt Management Act.
He lamented that foreign loans obtained in the manner that Abia state government did are not usually properly accounted for in the long run, a situation he said might pull the country back to the era of huge debt burdens from foreign loans.
According to him, Item Seven of the Exclusive Legislative List in the 1999 constitution stipulates that foreign loans of any nature must be approved by the National Assembly, adding that many states and government agencies have been breaching the provision.
Mr. Agoda noted that the country just came out of a huge debt of about $45 billion and that the House should not tolerate a situation where state governments are not complying with the laws.
Mr. Gbajabiamila and Igo Aguma (PDP, Rivers) said borrowing both locally and internationally by states without the approval of the National Assembly is illegal. Mr. Aguma specifically lamented that most states are losing their monthly allocations from the Federation Account to debt servicing because of such loans.
Regulating state loans
The debate took a dramatic turn when Ita Enang, Chairman of the Committee on Rules and Business, argued that the said Item Seven referred to in the Exclusive Legislative list did not give the federal legislature the powers to approve loans for the states.
He said that the Debt Management Office (DMO) Establishment Act enacted in 2005 gives states the freedom to obtain such loans with the approval of state assemblies.
Mr. Enang was however countered by Bala Ibn Na’Allah (PDP-Kebbi), who said that the DMO Act stipulates that all such loans must be approved by the National Assembly.
Leo Ogor (PDP Delta) then requested that a special ad-hoc committee be constituted to investigate the matter thereby prompting Mr. Bankole to create a 10-man panel on the matter.
The House also resolved to ask President Yar’Adua, Minister of Finance Mansur Mukhtar, and Chairman of the National Planning Commission Shamsudeen Usman, to collectively put an immediate stop to all foreign loans being sought by state governments and agencies.
Voted down
The House also defeated a motion, brought by Olusegun Osibote (PDP, Ogun) which sought to investigate the recent Ijebu-Ife crisis in his state, which claimed the lives of many youth and an Assistant Commissioner of Police.
Mr. Osibote told his colleagues that the crisis started as a result of protests over the death of a youth allegedly beaten by a vigilante group operating in the community.
He prayed that the House should commiserate with the families of the deceased, urge the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to provide relief materials to the affected people and mandate the joint committee on police affairs and emergency and disaster preparedness to visit the area and investigate the remote and immediate causes of the crisis and then to report back to the House.
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