Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha was again the subject of attack on Thursday, as lawmakers, including principal officers, protested against moves to impose doctored report of the public sessions on the ongoing alteration of the 1999 Constitution.
Aggrieved members and stakeholders also vexed their anger over crisis, which eventually led to the cancellation of the formal presentation of the report earlier slated for the day.
The embattled lawmaker, who has over the past few years failed integrity tests, allegedly rubbished the institution before the interest groups, including National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE) and other civil society groups who passed a vote of no confidence on the lawmakers.
Investigations revealed that Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives and majority of the members who were implicated after vetting Ihedioha’s plot at a closed-door session, over-ruled his deputy when he muted the idea that the presentation should continue.
Apologising to the aggrieved stakeholders, the speaker said “we realise that we cannot go on with this programme today. As you know, there’s always a challenge when you are dealing with human beings.”
While giving the official position of the leadership of the House, Zakari Mohammed, the chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity confirmed the disagreement among stakeholders, saying the postponement was necessary in order not to heat the polity.
Mohammed, who also opposed the presentation, stated that the delay would enable the House cross-examine Ihedioha’s report. He, however, dismissed reports that the disagreement was the fallout of the hard stance of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and Northern block against the constitution review.
In his reaction to the development, President of the NANS, Mr, Yinka Gbadebo; Deputy President of ACE, Asuzu Echezona; and a representative of Persons with Disability Initiative Society of Nigeria, Augustine Onwuamaegbu, at separate interviews with newsmen, described the postponement of the collation of the constitution review result as an attempt to truncate the democracy and subvert the will of the people.
“This is another attempt by the House to subvert the wishes and aspirations of the people expressly captured at the 360 constituencies of this country at the peoples’ public session just to satisfy the interest of a certain segment of the society,” he said.
“All issues relating to local government autonomy and autonomy of state houses of assemblies, which were canvassed at the peoples’ public session and opposed by the Nigerian Governors Forum NGF are non-negotiable issues that would be resisted by the students, because the cancellation is an attempt to satisfy that interest by the lawmakers.”
On his own part, Augustine Onwuamaegbu, who spoke on behalf of the Association of People with Disability Initiative Society of Nigeria, said “the Nigerian people have a lot of confidence in both houses of the National Assembly, and cancelling the collation of the constitution review exercise shows that the House has an agenda.”
He added that “the yearning and aspirations of the people of this country, which were expressed in the last constitution review exercise, cannot be truncated by the representatives of the people because we only elected them. They cannot dictate for us our views and opinions on certain issues.”
Already, NANS has threatened to mobilise students of the various institutions of higher learning in the country if the will of the people for a constitution that will reflect their views is hijacked by only a segment of the polity.
