Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
A group, One Nigeria Movement (ONM), has faulted the House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, over his handling of the House Minority Principal Officers, accusing him of arrogating to himself the powers to appoint minority leaders in the House as against the position of the leading minority party.
In a release over the weekend signed by its Convener General, Alhaji Ahmed Sodiq-Mugoro, and made available to newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, the ONM faulted Gbajabiamila for allegedly threatening his colleague who disagreed with his decision to appropriate to himself the power of majority of the minority political party to appoint Minority Principal Officers as it has happened in the past, which he (Gbajabiamila) benefitted from.
The group said Gbajabiamila must tell Nigerians how he emerged as Minority Leader of the House of Representatives in 2007 and 2011 under Action Congress (AC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), respectively, as well as 2015 under APC.
The ONM recalled that as it was the usual practice in the House, the PDP forwarded names of Minority Leadership of the House in a letter dated June 21, 2019 to the Speaker. The letter was duly received on June 26, 2019 and, contrary to the House rule that all correspondence must be read at the plenary, the Speaker refused to read this letter.
Warning that the House of Representatives under Gbajabiamila was already showing the signs of dictatorship and flagrant disregard for rules and laid down procedures, the ONM said, apart from Speaker and Deputy Speaker, no other principal officer of the House is picked through election.
The group described the Speaker’s action as a continuation of the APC’s perceived affront on the constitution of the country, pointing out that those who sought to dominate the judiciary are now out to put the National Assembly under their feet.