By Jide Ajani , Deputy Editor & Tordue Salem

Their action was in hope and not expectation. They should have known how it would end; because all the signs were there; and because they were too eager to achieve their set objective the breached the rules of the House of Representatives. In the end, they handed Speaker Dimeji Bankole what he needed most: a reason to deal with the self-styled members of the progressive group in the House.

The Speaker wasted no time in grabbing the opportunity. And so, 11 members of the House were suspended indefinitely.

Free-for-all in the House of Reps

But how did matters get to this very sorry pass? Tuesday, June 22, 2010, the House showcased fisticuffs, blood and a most demeaning pandemonium rivaled only by the Western House of Assembly in the First Republic.  Eleven key members of “The Progressives” seeking to unseat Speaker Dimeji Baankole and other principal officers were subsequently suspended.

The majority of the members of a rowdy House based their decision on a number of provisions in their rule books – Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, the House Rules and the 1999 Constitution to suspend the members.

Section 24 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, Rule 5 (1) of the Standing Orders of the House, states in part that: “A Member raising a matter of privilege shall draw the attention of the House to the provision(s) of the Legislative house (Powers and Privileges) Act and other statuses breached in relation to him. (See What The House Rule Says)

The Motion
In presenting his Motion, Mr. Chile Igbawua, said: “Any act or conduct inflicting or capable of bringing disrepute, disgrace and dishonour to the House, its Committee or any of its members or officials or which in any way impairs or may likely impair the dignity and power of the Legislative House would constitute punishable contempt.  Honourable Members, because of my great respect for this House, I am compelled to respond to the various actions of the ‘Progressives’ under the leadership of Hon. Dino Melaye, that have embarrassed and cast aspersions on this Honourable House, as a House incapable of resolving itself. But you know we can.

“First and foremost, let me remind everyone that this Honourable House is an institution; it is a national heritage that will outlive all of us. Therefore, it behooves on us to cherish, respect and protect the image and integrity of the House and hold sacrosanct its Standing Orders and Rules, and above all the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which we all swore to uphold.

“While relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution guarantee the freedom of opinion and expression, it must be done within the context of procedure so as not to infringe on the rights and privileges of others, in case, members of the House. The recent attacks on the Speaker and Principal Officers of this Honourable House on Television and the pages of Newspapers, has cast serious dent on the image of this Honourable House.

“Therefore, for failing to adhere to the provisions of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, Code of Conduct for Honourable members and Rules of the House in stating their grievances and for taking their matter to the public domain with the view to maliciously bringing the image of the House into disrepute, I hereby move the House in the following terms: “To suspend the following members indefinitely, pending the outcome of investigation by the Ethics and Privileges Committee: Hon. Dino Melaye, Hon. West Idahosa, Hon. Independence Ogunewe, Hon. Solomon Awinawi, Hon. Austin Nwachukwu, Hon. Abba Anas , Hon. Gbenga Oduwaiye, Hon. Kayode Amusan, Hon. Gbenga Onigbogi and Hon. Bitrus Kaze”, he stated.

Show of Shame
Prior to the suspension, Messrs Melaye, Awinawhi, Nwachukwu, Kaze and Mrs.  Uboh, had been manhandled by their colleagues and chamber staff who tore their clothes to the waist. Mr. Nwachukwu who broke the arm of his colleague with a fire extinguisher and was allegedly caught with a fire extinguisher, left the chambers in mere pants.

Before he settled for the fire extinguisher as a weapon, Nwachukwu, had nearly been pummeled to submission, by Rep. Muhammed Almakura(PDP/Lafia-Nassarawa State), who first reached for the top of his grey-coloured kaftan and shredded it.

Another ignoble scene, saw Rep. Ishaku Bawa(PDP/Taraba), pounding Rep. Solomon Awinawhi make for the mace. The mover of the “Motion for Suspension”, Mr. Chile Igbawua(PDP/Ushongo/Kwande), had merely gone half way with his motion, when Mrs. Uboh and the group leader, Mr. Dino Melaye snatched the “Motion of Suspension”, and tore it to shreds.

The rampaging Bawa, who spotted a navy blue French suit, had earlier manhandled Mrs. Uboh, who was demanding on top of her effeminate voice that the right procedure be followed in granting the floor to a member with a ‘motion’ or ‘point of order’.

The routine is that for every motion, a member ought to raise his hand for recognition, before the floor is granted, but in the case of Mr. Igbawua, that was not done, as he merely jumped to his feet after the House took prayers, petitions and a letter from the President.

Some say the act had been choreographed before the day’s session.

Mr. Ita Enang, chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, told Sunday Vanguard that “It is a matter on the Motion on Privilege. The motion on privilege as moved which concerned our brothers, are matters which arose as matters of privilege, and under Order 5 of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, an Order of Privilege must be taken at any time it arises, so it was not a pre-arranged situation.

“The sponsor or the person who alleged that his privilege and the privilege of the entire House was Hon. Chile Igbawua and he took steps to raise it and he was called upon and he raised it and the House took the appropriate decision.

“The Rules of the House as read out by Mr. Speaker, had allowed that, and any person aggrieved, can be aggrieved, but the House has taken a decision. The Speaker read out the Order, from the Standing Orders of the House. He read it”, he said.

But Mr. Melaye waxed unrepentant when he told journalists on Wednesday that “The Motion of Suspension read and adopted by the House, was not referring to us (the suspended members). Because the Privileges Act talks about ‘false publications’ and the documents we presented to the press and the EFCC are not fake, until proven so, so the suspension cannot stand”, he argued.

Money And The Love Of It
The National Assembly is a Janus-faced conundrum of sorts. Since 1999, the Chamber has thrown up those with a vision and lawmakers with a deep tendency for corruption and the compromise of their official vows.
Money, the love of it, has almost always been at the root of most crises in the House of Representatives, nay the National Assembly.

Progressive What?
The Progressive group had transformed from the Nigeria First Forum, a group of lawmakers brought together for the purpose of ensuring the House worked with the Senate to declare the then Acting President Goodluck Jonathan as President in the face of the mortal illness that grounded President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The leader of the Group, Mr. Dino Melaye who became notorious during the Etteh saga, confused his office then as the Chairman Committee on Information with being the spokesman of the House.

He followed the former Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Etteh on a tour of the six South-Western states. At every turn he grabbed the mic and showered the first Female Speaker of the House of Representatives with encomiums, and he quickly became the right hand man. He assumed by fiat the spokesmanship of the House, and shoved aside journalist-lawmaker Eziuche Ubani. The surprising coincidence and irony is that apart from West-Idahosa, all other members suspended for fighting Bankole over corruption, stood solidly behind Etteh when she was being accused of corruption.

The other side of the coin, portrays the likes of Faruk Lawan of the Integrity Group fame, who though fought Etteh over corruption to the end, is defending Bankole for what some say are similar charges.

But the diminutive Lawan, at a press conference, said the fight against Etteh followed due process, as the case was heard and decided on the floor of the House and not “just on the pages of newspapers and the EFCC”.

Why The Members Were Suspended
As trouble broke out, Bankole who was in Russia, had enlisted his more respected Deputy, Usman Bayero Nafada, to rally the support of caucuses in preparation for the suspension. Reps. Leo Okuweh Ogor(PDP/Isoko/Delta), Chile Igbawua, Emmanuel Jime(PDP/Makurdi/Guma), Patrick Ikhariale(PDP/Igueben/Edo) were on the shortlist to raise a powerful motion to ‘teach the legislative delinquents’ a lesson.

One of the reasons for the suspension, Sunday Vanguard gathered, was that it would allow for calm in the House, for members to round off key issues pending and do a final mopping up, for the fast-approaching National Assembly elections.

Though also concerned about the image of the House, the lawmakers were looking at a sundry of issues that an impeachment project would affect.

The Deputy Speaker has since penultimate Thursday held marathon meetings with all caucuses in the House, and even got the word of the Kogi caucus to suspend Mr. Melaye for a start.

Questions For Mr. Speaker
The weightiest of the allegations brandished by The Progressives is
that of the N9billion expenditure from the N11 billion naira two-year capital budget.

Part of the issues which The Progressives presented before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, chairman, Farida Waziri, was the alleged inflation of cost of some items.

According to Melaye at a meeting with Mrs. Waziri, “N11billion was allocated to the House in 2008/9 budgets for capital projects. Out of this, N2billion was returned to the treasury. But we are asking the House officers to account for how they spent N9billion. He who seeks equity must come with clean hands. If the House is questioning Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) through oversight functions, we need to oversight ourselves so that the public can have confidence in us.

“We have documents to prove that some items approved by the Body of Principal officers of whom the Speaker Dimeji Bankole is the chairman were inflated.

A unit of 40-inch LCD TV set was purchased for N525, 000 each, contrary to the price list by the Bureau of Public Procurement and market price of N180, 000 by Samsung.” N2.3 billion Peugeot 407 car purchase allegation

Why Melaye and co. want Bankole out,  Speaker’s supporters
Reconstitution of House Committees:  Once members are removed as
chairmen or deputy chairmen of committees which are considered juicy, all hell is almost always let loose.  It started from 1999 and may not be about to stop:
– Mr. Independence Ogunewe lost his chairman position of Aviation and later Cooperation and Integration in Africa
– Mr. Dino Melaye lost his chairman of Information Committee
– Mr. Ndudi Elumelu lost his Chairman position of the lucrative Power Committee
– Mr. Solomon Awhinawhi lobbied to be the chairman of NDDC Committee but lost to another member Hon. Mutu from his state Delta
– Mr. Kayode Amusan lost his Vice Chairman of Housing Committee
– Mr. Austin Nwanchukwu could not get a committee chair

* The Capital Votes of the House in the 2010 Budget is the source of another problem.  Some members are insisting that their allowances be increased from N27 million to N42 million

* The issue of Peugeot car purchase has been investigated by the House Ethics and Privileges Committee and the Speaker and Deputy Speaker exonerated.  Most documents tendered were allegedly forged.

What The House Rule Says
The majority of the members of a rowdy House took a motion citing     sections from the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, the House Rules and the 1999 Constitution to suspend the members.

Section 24 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, says: Any person who publishes any statement, whether in writing or otherwise, which falsely or scandalously defames a Legislative House or any Committee thereof; or publishes any writing reflecting on the character of the President or Speaker, as the case may be, of a Legislative House or the Chairman of a Committee of a Legislative House in the conduct of his duty as such President, Speaker or Chairman;

“Or publishes any writing containing a gross, willful or scandalous misrepresentation of the proceedings of a Legislative House or of the speech of any member in the proceedings of a Legislative House, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of two hundred naira or imprisonment for twelve months, or to both such fine and imprisonment”.

Rule 5 (1) of the Standing Orders of the House, states in part that: “A Member raising a matter of privilege shall draw the attention of the House to the provision(s) of the Legislative house (Powers and Privileges) Act and other statuses breached in relation to him.

It also partly states that: “In cases where adequate provision is not made in these Standing Orders, the House shall by resolution regulate its procedure on privileges”.

Time line on the stand-off
* June 23, 2009: Dino Melaye dropped as chairman, Committee on Information.
* June 1, 2010: Bankole visits Rep Ogunnawe’s residence in Abuja to patch up their strained relationship.
* June 2, 2010: Ogunnewe / Bankole locked in verbal combat at the House.
* June 3, 2010: Security agents quiz Ogunnewe over confrontation with Bankole.
* June 21, 2010: Melaye submits petition against House leadership to EFCC.
* June 22, 2010: Fracas on the Floor of the House.
* June 23, 2010: Rep Nwachukwu arraigned at a Chief Magistrate Court, Wuse, Abuja, for illegal possession of tear gas and causing grievous bodily harm to fellow lawmakers.
* Officers of suspended Reps sacked.
* PDP summons Speaker Bankole, others: asks them to apologise to Nigerians.