Trouble
appears imminent in the House of Representatives, as members get set to resume
from vacation tomorrow.
The
bone of contention is that the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, must support President
Goodluck Jonathan wholeheartedly or be ready to give way for a core loyalist to
take over the proceedings of the House.
The
Presidency and Tambuwal have not been on the same page since he was accused of
romancing with the opposition when he granted audience to the breakaway faction
of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, led by Abubakar Baraje, last month.
Although
supporters of the President in the House moved against what many saw as ‘an
open’ endorsement of the group by the Speaker, there are allegations that a
major plot is being hatched to remove Tambuwal from the exalted post.
Worried
by the sharp division in the House arising from the Baraje and G7 governors’
visit and the controversy generated, Tambuwal is said to have set up a ‘small
peace committee’ to pacify aggrieved members and restore confidence in the
leadership.
However,
a source close to the peace committee told Vanguard that members had
been more divided than before as a result of differences among those loyal to
Tambuwal and the President.
It
was learnt that when the two groups met to make peace, the pro-Jonathan
lawmakers shocked Tambuwal’s loyalists by coming up with three stringent
conditions, which the Tambuwal group rejected.
The
anti-Tambuwal lawmakers in the House are reported to have asked Tambuwal to
allow for an independent auditing of the amount of money so far released to him
since he took over as Speaker in 2011.
The
pro-Jonathan group also asked Tambuwal to steer clear of the Rivers State House
of Assembly crisis and allow the police to re-open the state legislature for
business.
The
group also demanded that Tambuwal should explain why members of the 7th
Assembly were being paid a paltry N27 million per quarter as against the N45
million that their 6th Assembly counterparts were getting under the Dimeji
Bankole leadership.
They
argued that they have been cheated by the leadership which reduced their pay
when the Federal Government had not reduced the statutory N150 billion being
paid to the National Assembly yearly.
However,
a staunch supporter of President Goodluck Jonathan in the House of
Representatives, Mr Uzo Azubuike, has said that neither the President nor the
Speaker is under any impeachment threat.
Azubuike,
who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Petition, told Vanguard
exclusively that the main aim of the President’s loyalists in the House was to
strengthen peace and unity as well as ensure that the PDP, which is the
majority party, takes its rightful position in major decisions-making.
The
Aba North/Aba South Federal Constituency Representative said that as people,
who believe in the unity and development of Nigeria, they had already floated a
group within the PDP members known as “Unity Forum” to work for the advancement
of the cause of Nigeria.
Asked
if all the PDP members in the House of Representatives were members of the
forum, Azuibuike said that at least most of the members of the party were
involved in it but did not elaborate.(Vanguard)
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