The battlefield of the crisis currently ravaging the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) shifted to the Federal House of Representatives on Tuesday, when members of the faction of the party chaired by Alhaji bamanga Tukur gate-crashed a prearranged meeting between the leadership of the lower chamber and the faction chaired by Alhaji Kawu Baraje-led, also attended by the breakaway G-7 governors.
Once the meeting commenced at about 3.30pm, Hon. Henry Ofongo from Bayelsa State raised a point of order during protocols that other honourables felt offensive. They therefore attacked him, throwing all available objects, including chairs, at him.
Well-built Ofongo resisted the attack, throwing punches at his assailants. Some of the honourables in his support rallied round him, shouting and clapping with such thud that when Baraje began delivering his speech, the noise was so heavy that he could not be heard. The audibility of Baraje’s presentation was further impeded by shouts of “Tukur! Tukur! Tukur!”
The lawmakers managed to maintain peace and order once Speaker Aminu Tambuwal mounted the rostrum to deliver his speech. But no sooner had he begun than the old PDP lawmakers began chanting “PDP! Goodluck! PDP! Goodluck!!
The lower chamber had returned from a six-week to a letter from Baraje’s faction requesting to visit the House.
Reading the letter, Tambuwal had revealed that the Tukur faction wrote a similar letter requesting a meeting with the leadership of the House and PDP Caucus but then withdrew it early on Tuesday morning.
The foregoing therefore implies that there would have been a clash of visit, had the Tukur faction not withdrawn its request for the meeting.
It could also have spelt an even tenser atmosphere, considering that the letter by Baraje’s faction, which was signed by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, abruptly halted proceedings and set member-supporters of both factions on a rowdy collision course for about 30 minutes.
On other matters, Tambuwal lamented the discouraging level of budget implementation, describing it as “a sore point of governance” that is way below expectation.
He announced that committees of the House would proceed on one week of oversight to Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA), after which the lawmakers passed a vote of confidence on him as proof of unity in the chamber.
