Members of the main Peoples Democratic Party in the House of Representatives have staged a walkout over the refusal of the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, to grant their prayer on the Federal Government’s Twitter Ban.
Gbajabiamila had earlier asked relevant committees of the House to investigate the matter within 10 days.
Leader of the PDP caucus, Kingsley Chinda, much later, raised a point of order to make an additional prayer that the House asks the Federal Government to lift the ban pending when the House carries out the probe.
Chinda noted that the implication is that the ban would remain for 10 days, which means the rights of Nigerians would be kept in abeyance during the period.
Gbajabiamila, however, cited part of the Standing Orders of the House stating that a matter that had been concluded by the parliament cannot be revisited for a debate.
The Speaker, therefore, ruled Chinda out of order, a decision that did not go down well the members of the opposition.
Insisting on speaking and several leaders of the House shutting him down, Chinda led other PDP members out of the chamber.
They later addressed journalists to say the action was in defence of Nigerians.
Swiftly, the Leader of the House, Ado Doguwa lent his voice, asking Chinda to comply with the speaker’s directive.
Similarly, the Chief Whip of the House, Hon. Mohammed Mongunu asked Chinda to also sit down and allow the matter as the Speaker had ruled.
Seeing that the House was getting seated up, the Speaker quickly moved on with the proceedings, calling for the attention of the House, ignoring Chinda.
At his juncture, Chinda and his colleagues gathered their belongings, ready to exit the chamber.
Just then, shouts of “you can leave, you can go” emerged from some members who asked them the leave.
While the proceedings resumed, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi from Plateau State raised a point of Order, saying that his privilege has been breached.
He told the House that some members of the opposition had vowed a few days ago to disrupt today’s proceedings should the Speaker fail to allow them discuss the twitter ban.
Gagdi said that the report breached his privileges as a member of the parliament, calling for investigation of his colleagues who made the utterances.
But the speaker in his response pleaded that the matter be allowed to rest, having set up a Committee.
He described as unfortunate a situation where some “seasoned lawmakers” knowing the rules would still deliberately device a means to disrupt the House.
Addressing the Press Corps later, the PDP Caucus led by Chinda said that the point of order was an added prayer to the Speaker’s speech.
While he commended Gbajabiamila for the proactive measure, he said that 10 days was a long period of time for Nigerians to wait before resuming their Twitter operations.
He said it was wrong for the speaker to have ruled him out of order.
The Caucus however vowed to continue to tweet despite the directive by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami.
Speaking on behalf of the Caucus, Chinda challenged the government to arrest them on behalf of Nigerians.
Details later
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