Nigeria Content Online

Five of the six
suspended members of House of Representatives may have to wait till
November 25 to know if they can return to work or not, as the judgment
to decide their fate was yesterday stalled by the absence of the judge
handling the matter at a Federal High Court in Abuja.

The lawmakers –
Dino Melaye, Independence Ogunewe, Solomon Ahiwinahwi, Bitrus Kazeh,
Abba Anas Adamu, and Austin Nwachukwu – were accused of starting a
crisis in the House of Representatives.

After listening to
the arguments by both parties on the substantive motion of the six
lawmakers asking the court to return them to the House, the presiding
judge, Adamu Bello adjourned the matter to yesterday to give judgment.

But at yesterday’s
sitting, lawyers were seen taking new dates for their case from the
court Registrar, due to the absence of the judge, and the Melaye matter
was adjourned to November 25 for judgment.

In their joint
motion, argued by Femi Falana, the embattled lawmakers insisted that
they were elected for a tenure of four years and that the Speaker had
no right to cut the tenure short for any reason. They claimed that
their suspension has denied their respective constituencies
representation in the lower chamber of the National Assembly and the
court to set aside the suspension slammed on them on June 22 of this
year, pending the final determination of their main suit.

Mr. Nwachukwu has
withdrawn his matter against the Speaker of the House, on the premise
that his family and constituents have directed him to terminate the
case against the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, and the House in the interest
of peace.

Two of the
suspended members of the House of Representative, Ehiogie Idahosa (Edo
State) and Olugbenga Onigbogi (Osun State), were recently recalled
after more than three months of suspension. The duo and nine other
members were suspended for asking the Speaker, Mr. Bankole, to quit on
allegation of fraud.

The House announced
that it will review the orders of suspension on individual basis on
conditions that the affected members quit litigations, and tender
apology. Messrs Idahosa and Onigbogi, who were both absent during the
violent session, turned themselves in for internal probe by the House.

Ethics and Privileges Committee

The Speaker of the
House, however, urged the court to dismiss the motion of the suspended
lawmakers for being frivolous and lacking in merit. Mr. Bankole argued
that what the suspended lawmakers were seeking was a shortcut to
justice, adding that there would be nothing left for court to
adjudicate upon once the embattled lawmakers are returned to their
seats.

Wole Olanipekun,
counsel to Mr. Bankole, told the court that Mr. Melaye and his group
were suspended from the House because of their unruly behaviour on the
day they were suspended, adding that the suspended lawmakers goofed in
their claims that the House has no power under the constitution to
suspend them.

But the national
leadership of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has directed
the 11 suspended members of the House of Representatives to withdraw
their case against the House.

At a meeting
between the group and the national working committee of the PDP, led by
its chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo, on August 4, the suspended lawmakers
were told that the only way the party could intervene was for them to
ask their lawyers to stop the case.