A rebellion is building up in the House of
Representatives against Speaker Yakubu
Dogara,according to multiple sources in the
Green Chambers of the National Assembly,
The Nation has reported.
The report claimed that members are angry
over Dogara’s soft spot for the Presidency as
the Speaker has turned the House into a
rubber stamp for the executive arm.
According to The Nation, they are also angry
that constituency projects are not being
implemented by the Executive,and want to
know why about 50-60 per cent of them
(members) have not been assigned their
official cars.
Other members also expressed anger over
the alleged lateness in payment of their
salaries and allowances. Dogara has been
left shocked by the development and has
launched a counter move to calm frayed
nerves. It was gathered that the whole
drama started on Wednesday when some
members of the House took him up on the
various issues at an Executive Session.
It was learnt that a ranking member from
Kano State led the protest by faulting the
House leadership’s alleged romance with the
presidency instead of asserting the
independence of the chamber.
The members alleged that their support for
the presidency, especially ailing President
Muhammadu Buhari, was not being
reciprocated by the latter.
They also complained about how ministers
had been treating summons by committees
with disdain. They were particularly irked by
the alleged unwillingness of the Executive to
implement constituency projects in the 2016
budget.
Members claimed they went through hell to
get the constituency projects executed.
A top source said: “Since he was elected, the
Speaker has never had the type of revolt he
witnessed during the week from members.
“The matter got to a point that some
members at the plenary on Wednesday
refused to stand up in deference to the
Speaker in order to usher him into the
chamber.
“Even on Thursday, some members
extended their annoyance to voting during
the debate on amendments to the 1999
constitution.”
Another ranking member gave said: “Some
members from the North-West actually led
the revolt at the Executive session. They
accused Dogara of ‘leaning so much to the
Executive’ such that the House was being
turned into a rubber stamp.
“They gave a long list of constitutional
violations by the Executive which the House
ignored because of Dogara’s
rapprochement with President Muhammadu
Buhari and Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.
“They queried why the Minister of Power,
Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola
will come out publicly to deride the House
without any sanction. They cited cases of
ministers and chief executives of MDAs not
honouring House summons.
“Also, the MDAs, especially ministers, elect to
implement constituency projects based on
their whims and caprices. But they have
always forgotten that the budget is a law.
Some of us are tired and frustrated.
“The Speaker has been persuading us to be
patient but we are not delivering dividends
of democracy to our constituents. What we
now get is stoning of some members by
their constituents.
Another member from the South-South said:
“Well, some of us actually complained bitterly
about welfare matters. We are two years
into our tenure and about 50-60 per cent of
our members have not been given official
cars.
“The complaint we have been getting
borders on the fact that the Peugeot model
cars have been ordered from abroad but yet
to arrive. It is insulting that we have to be
lobbying to get official cars which will be
paid for from our entitlements.
“We believe that something was
fundamentally wrong with the award of the
contract for the cars by the House Services
Committee.
“There was no communication on what has
really happened. Unfortunately, the
leadership has been tolerating the House
Services Committee.”
A member from the North-West said: “It has
not been funny because we get our salaries
and allowances late.
“We protested to let the Speaker know that
we are suffering in silence. If the Speaker
had not handled it with maturity, we would
have changed all the principal officers.
“Of what use is backing President Buhari
without meaningful projects in our
constituency?
“Many of us preferred the Senate
antagonistic method because it is working
for that chamber. This was why we took on
Dogara since the beginning of the week.”
But a principal officer said: “When Dogara
opened up at the session, it was realized by
members that he has not been pocketed by
the presidency. His leadership style is that of
consultation and not confrontation. He
thinks service delivery to Nigerians should
be the priority of lawmakers and not feud
with the Executive.
