Nigeria Content Online

The deputy speaker
of the House of Representatives, Usman Nafada, on Wednesday, stunned
his colleagues at plenary when he said the House will abide by the
ruling of the court legalising the stay of Dino Melaye and others in
the chamber.

Mr. Nafada’s
contrasting speech surprised many lawmakers who were already astonished
by the appearance of Mr. Melaye and Solomon Ahwinahi (members of the
‘Progressive’ group), who had evaded security at the Assembly to attend
plenary.

The Progressives, a
pressure group in the House of Reps opposed to the leadership, were the
previous day prevented from attending plenary at the National Assembly
by a joint security siege believed to be carried out on the order of
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole.

The deputy speaker,
however, deviated from the “tyranny of the majority”, which the court
said was applied by the Speaker in suspending Mr. Melaye and his group
in June, and said that since the Ethics and Privileges committee was
handling the case, the House will allow the committee to submit its
report to it before taking further steps.

Members of the
group were forcefully evicted from the chambers in June after they
accused the Speaker of allegedly misappropriating N9 billion out of the
capital vote of the House. An Abuja High Court, however, nullified
their suspension but the leadership of the House has since denied them
entrance, saying they have appealed the court’s ruling and also applied
for a stay of execution.

“A notice for stay
of order or application for appeal does not constitute an order,” Dino
Melaye countered the House leadership’s claims on Wednesday.

“For me not to
enter the chamber, they need a superior judgement or a stay order. What
they have filed can only be compared to a man that has applied for a
job and says that he has automatically got the job,” Mr. Melaye said.

He argued that
until a superior judgement upturns the High Court judgement which
nullified his suspension, he remains a sitting member of the House of
Representatives and will attend plenary the following day.

Dikko entrance

Mr. Melaye’s
entrance into the chamber surprised both his colleagues and security
operatives who did not notice when he entered. Mr. Dino claimed before
bewildered reporters and the cheering crowd that he came into the
chamber using “Dikko style.”

He was apparently
referring to an unsuccessful attempt by a Nigerian military government
to bring a former minister, Umaru Dikko, back from the United Kingdom
in a crate to face corruption charges in 1984.

“The most important
thing is that I came in, I signed the register, and I also got the
order paper of the day. It’s fantastic to be back here!” He said.

Despite heightened
security and thorough search of vehicles entering the Assembly premises
on Wednesday, Messrs. Melaye and Ahwinawhi strolled into the chamber
shortly after the House sitting commenced at about 2.00pm. They signed
the attendance register and collected the order of proceedings for the
day.

They sat in the
respective seats exchanging pleasantries with other astonished
lawmakers who shook their hands. Both men spent about 10 minutes in the
chambers before they left to address the press and a cheering crowd.

However, after Mr.
Melaye left the complex, Independence Ogunewe, another member of the
group, was prevented entrance into the chamber by Emeka Okere, the
Sergeant-at-Arms of the National Assembly based on “an order from
above.” Mr. Ogunewe berated Mr. Okere, saying he was blocking justice.
He reminded Mr. Okere of the case between his daughter and the Nigerian
Navy, where the court ruled in Miss Okere’s favour that she was
molested by Naval ratings.

“It means you are saying there are different standards for different situations,” Mr. Ogunewe said.

However, the Speaker was sighted in a secret meeting with the security heads in the Assembly complex later yesterday evening.