23rd July, 2015
Eromosele Ebhomele
A member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives from Lagos State, Jide Jimoh, on Thursday told selected journalists that he actually went to court to stop Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, from disobeying the decision of the All Progressives Congress, APC, concerning the leadership of the House.
Jimoh said, together with his colleague, Abubakar Lado-Abdullahi from Niger State, he went to a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city “to restrain the House leadership from stopping the announcement of the names of principal officers recommended by the leadership of the APC.
National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, had conveyed the party’s decision on the members of the House to fill the other principal offices.
But in response, Dogara, days ago, said his hands were tied because he had a case instituted against him in court. He also suggested names for the position saying this was in line with the principle of federal character
Many Nigerians have since condemned Dogara and his group for alleged political rascality.
“The court is to determine whether section 14 of the 1999 constitution dealing with the principle of federal character is applicable to the sharing of principal offices in the National Assembly.”
He lamented that the country was witnessing what he described as a display of legislative interest as a result of selfishness on the part of winners who have refused to be magananimous in victory.
The crisis at the House, he said, had added to the challenges of insurgency in the North-eastern part of Nigeria, the crisis of financial terrorism and other economic problems and corruption.
“The Speaker should be magnanimous in victory and allow the House to be run in accordance with the Nigerian constitution and the rules of the House of Representatives.
“The other positions in the House are principal positions which are party positions. Order 7, Rule 27 is very explicit.
“In our rules, there is nothing like zoning or House caucus. Without primary, there cannot be secondary. Without being a party member, you cannot be elected not to talk about being a member of the House of Representatives.
“The general interest should be paramount to the newly elected members of the House of Representatives for posterity to judge us,” he said.
Quoting verses of the Quran to back up his argument that only God gives power and responsibility, he warned Speaker Dogara and his group to “be zealous, but not overzealous.”