By Rotimi Ajayi

Members of the House of Representatives, last night, called an emergency meeting of its leadership to deliberate on the removal of fuel subsidy on New Year day by President Goodluck Jonathan.

A very close source to the House leadership disclosed to Vanguard that the meeting was called at the instance of the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal.

According to the source, though the Speaker was said to be away in Sokoto State, the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ehedioha was said to have led the meeting while the Speaker contributed through teleconference from Sokoto.

The source revealed that the meeting, which lasted for hours, took a very hard stand against the subsidy removal.

It was learnt that most speakers at the meeting were against the decision of the President and called on the leadership of the House to immediately commence contact with other members to ensure full attendance of the House when it resumes on January 10.

The source said: “The unilateral decision of the executive branch to commence full-scale deregulation of the nation’s petroleum sector is a mindless breach of faith, especially as consultations on the issue were   inconclusive.

“Like other Nigerians, members of the House of Representatives were shocked by the curious New Year gift of the sudden removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, PMS. It is a commodity which pricing structure has direct consequences on the daily existence of our fellow countrymen and women and we restate our opposition to any policy that seeks to impose further hardship on the long-suffering masses.

“As representatives of Nigerian people, the House of Representatives would take this up when we resumes fully in a few day’s time.”

It was learnt that the House will formally issue a statement today ahead of the January 10 resumption.