Members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday were divided over a motion seeking to summon President Muhammadu Buhari over the spate of insecurity in the country.
Plenary at the House of Representatives turned rowdy as the House considered a motion moved by members from Borno State on the recent massacre of 43 rice farmers in the state by Boko Haram insurgents.
The motion moved by Hon. Satomi Ahmed on behalf of other 10 Borno State lawmakers on the floor prayed the President to amongst other things, declare a State of emergency on security matters.
Part of the prayers was to invite Buhari to appear on the floor of the House and address the lawmakers in plenary.
Efforts by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila; Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; and Chairman, House Committee on Air Force, Shehu Koko, among others, to have the prayer dropped proved abortive.
Borno lawmaker, Hon. Ahamdu Jaha, relied on Order 6, Rule 1 of the House to say that the original motion to which all the lawmakers agreed on was to call on the President to address them on the security situation especially in the north east region.
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He said, “My amendment is that Mr. President should be invited to come and explain the security situation in the country especially in the northeast.”
His amendment got the support of the House.
Gbajabiamila’s plea that a state of emergency be adopted instead was also rebuffed.
Similarly, the majority leader of the House, Ado Doguwa, added his voice, saying that security issues can’t be discussed openly, pleading for the understanding of his colleagues not to summon the president.
His contribution was however greeted with a thunderous shout of No.
The Speaker was forced to request that lawmakers should have an executive (closed-door) session.
Seeing the rising tension and the determination of the lawmakers, the Speaker suddenly called for executive session to resolve the matter. “This is not the spirit with which we started this 9th assembly. “We will go into executive session to resolve this matter”, Gbajabiamila said.
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