Tension heightened at the House of Representatives on Tuesday over alleged moves by the caucus of the All Progressives Congress to remove the Majority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila.
There was also a bid to place some of his allies on six months’ suspension.
Gbajabiamila and some of his supporters in the House had on Monday boycotted the inauguration of the 96 standing committees of the lower federal legislative chamber by the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, to protest “unfair treatment” of the majority APC in the distribution of the committees.
Two APC lawmakers indeed fought each other at the lobby of the National Assembly on Tuesday as anger boiled over the composition of the House committees.
The members, Mr. Herman Hembe (Benue State) and Mr. Aliu Magaji (Jigawa State), almost punched one another but for the prompt intervention of other lawmakers.
The PUNCH gathered that what started as a mild argument later degenerated to a point at which Hembe and Magaji started shoving each other.
One eyewitness claimed that the two lawmakers indeed slapped each other with Hembe slapping Magaji first.
Hembe is the Chairman, House Committee on Federal Capital Territory, and he is one of the lawmakers who do not see anything wrong with the committees as constituted by Dogara.
“They were charging at each other and Hembe threw his hand, landing on Magaji’s face before they were halted”, the source told our correspondent.
When contacted, Magaji denied that he fought with Hembe though he admitted that they merely engaged in a war of words.
On his part, Hembe claimed that he would not raise his hands against any colleague.
“False. I would never slap an honourable member. I don’t know where all those rumours are coming from,” he told The PUNCH.
There has been a raging dispute over the sharing of the committees’ chairmanships since Dogara named them on October 22, with 48 of the committees being chaired by APC members and 45 by members of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
The majority party members are particularly miffed that the opposition took control of a number of prime committees, otherwise known as ‘juicy committees’ in the parlance of the Nigerian legislature.
On Monday, as the Speaker inaugurated the committees, some of the Gbajabiamila loyalists, led by Mr. Musa Sarkin-Ada, gathered at the APC national secretariat in Abuja, where they addressed journalists and accused Dogara of allegedly serving the interest of the PDP.
However, many members of the APC caucus, who were ready to accept the committees’ composition and work with Dogara, reportedly made a move to remove Gbajabiamila if he continued to oppose the House.
Text messages reportedly circulated among members between Monday and Tuesday, urging them to compile signatures to remove the House leader.
The PUNCH learnt that as the news spread and tension mounted, a meeting of the caucus was hurriedly summoned on Tuesday morning to discuss the issue.
The meeting, which was held inside Hearing Room 1, was presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Yussuff Lasun.
Lasun was said to have used the opportunity to dispel “rumours” of any move to replace the majority leader.
“The explanation became necessary because there were members on the leader’s side who came threatening that there would be no peace in the House if the leader was removed.
“Some people came asking questions and were ready to fight. They wanted to know the true position of things,” one senior official informed our correspondent on Tuesday.
Checks revealed that there were “real moves” to either suspend Gbajabiamila and his loyalists or remove the leader.
Investigations showed that at a separate meeting between Dogara, Lasun and Gbajabiamila on Tuesday morning, the majority leader was reportedly reprimanded for behaving in a manner suggesting that he was “more APC than other members.”
The House leader was said to have been accused of attending meetings of the leadership of the House where decisions were taken, only for him to later deny being part of such meetings.
Another source, who also spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said, “His actions were seen as someone who attends the meetings of the leadership and goes out to leak vital information.
“There were attempts to call for the suspension of the leader and his allies because many members felt Gbajabiamila and his allies did not only undermine the speaker, but also the entire House.
“But, there were interventions and the issue of suspension has been put on hold for now.”
One member from Katsina State, Mr. Ahmed Baba-Kaita, stormed out of the Tuesday meeting, swearing loudly that he would never support the removal of the leader or do anything contrary to the will of the APC leadership.
Baba-Kaita confirmed that there were plans to remove Gbajabiamila for opposing the House on account of committee distribution.
He said that some APC members were unhappy that Dogara was not prepared to alter the distribution of the committees by retrieving vital committees from the PDP and hand them over to the APC.
The lawmaker said, “The party gave a clear-cut instruction to Dogara on Monday to come and look into the matter. He promised to get back to the party, he hasn’t done so.
“Now, we hear there is a plan to remove the House leader. That will not work because they know that we (Gbajabiamila’s backers) have the majority.
“We will continue to resist them because this is an APC government and we won’t allow a situation whereby the PDP is made to control us.”
But, the leadership of the House has denied that there was a move to remove Gbajabiamila.
The Chief Whip, Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, claimed that the “rumours are unfounded.”
Ado-Doguwa said Gbajabiamila remained the leader, adding that the House under the speakership of Dogara was ready to work with President Muhammadu Buhari to implement all the policies of the APC.
However, he stressed that the APC must resolve its internal dispute over the committees and moves the country ahead.
“We have just met as the APC family. We are saying enough of the misunderstanding within the APC. We have to organise ourselves and work with the speaker and move ahead.
“The speculation that some people want to remove Gbajabiamila is unfounded,” Ado-Doguwa said.
Dogara (APC), Lasun (APC), Gbajabiamila (APC), Ado-Doguwa (APC), Deputy House Whip, Mr. Pally Iriase (APC) and the principal officers of the PDP later came together in a procession for the plenary of the House to commence after the meetings.
No further mention of the issue was made in the chambers as Dogara presided, making several friendly exchanges with Gbajabiamila in the course of the debates.
There has been a cold war between Dogara and Gbajabiamila since October 22 when the speaker named the 96 committees on account of the grumbling by APC members that the party was not fairly treated in the distribution of the committees.
Included in the PDP’s share are committees like the Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream); Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream); Committee on Gas Resources; Committee on Aviation; Committee on Power; Committee on Works; Committee on NDDC; Committee on Niger Delta; and Committee on Air Force.
Among the APC’s committees are Committee on Appropriations; Committee on Finance; Committee on Customs/Excise; Committee on Defence; Committee on Communications; and Committee on Agricultural Services.
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