TheCable

The house of representatives on Wednesday went into a rowdy session after Yakubu Dogara, the speaker, recognised Emmanuel Oker-Jev, chairman rules and business, to move a motion just as another member Aliyu Madaki was putting up his hand to be recognised.

The speaker recognised Oker-Jev, who moved his motion in the midst of heavy noise on the collective breach of members due to the budget padding allegations raised by Abdulmumin Jibrin, former chairman of the committee on appropriations.

He said the house had come under heavy attack by the allegations.

At that point, Jibrin was observed to be walking around the chamber under the close watch of the sergeant-at-arms.

The motion was however passed and referred to the ethics and privileges committee, which would look into the matter.

At this point, members began shouting “Dogara, Dogara.”

When Madaki was recognised to speak, he was barely heard, as scores of lawmakers were screaming all at the same time.

When calm returned to the house briefly and Madaki was allowed ‎to speak, he said the motion moved by Oker-Jev was not seconded by any legislator, which was against the house rules.

He reminded Dogara that there was a call for his resignation based on the allegations levelled against him by Jibrin.

Responding, Dogara said‎: “We all know who seconded the motion. The allegations were against the house; if I must resign, I will wait for you to tender in your resignation first.”

While some legislators quickly rushed at Madaki to give ‎him papers to write his resignation letter, others, again started hailing the speaker at the top ‎of their voices as mufflers and caps, which had the print of “I stand with Dogara”, were distributed to the speaker’s loyalists.