Proceedings at the House of Representatives were stalled, on Friday, over the planned imposition of resolution on the contentious Clause 52 (3) on electronic transmission of election results as the House was plunged into rowdiness.
This came just as the the Minority Caucus in the House led by Hon. Ndudi Elumelu staged a walkout for the alleged adoption of the contentious section 52 (3) on the electronic transmission of election results.
Trouble started again when the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Ahmed Wase who presided on the Committee of the Whole, accused the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechuckwu of “trying to mislead the House ”
In his intervention, Hon. Okechuckwu observed that the House did not reach a compromise on the electronic transmission of election results during the stormy session, at which a motion for division was proposed by a member.
However in his response, Hon. Wase argued that there was no motion to divide the House, thereby alleging that the Deputy Minority Leader, was trying to mislead the House.
He stressed rather sarcastically: “And you are a Leader. I don’t want to repeat that again.”
The Deputy Speaker called Hon. Boma Goodhead to order, saying “we have our rules.”
Despite all entreaties to calm down, the protesting members, one of the lawmakers was overheard referring to the Presiding officer as being mad, a statement which the Majority Leader, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa reacted to: “You called somebody a mad man.”
Another member was heard asking an aggrieved lawmakers: “You go kill am, E don do, when everybody say it’s okay, it’s okay.”
Yet unsatisfied with the manner in which the proceeding was conducted, Hon. Goodhead, who was seen moving towards the Majority Leader’s seat where the Speaker sat, said you sat there when we can conduct this electronically.
After a few minutes of ballyhoo, the aggrieved members eventually calmed down, thereby paving way for the House sitting to proceed.
Earlier, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mamood Yakubu, who was represented, answered few questions after taking oath.
Chairman, House Committee on Communications, Hon. Akeem Adeyemi asked whether the Commission had, at anytime, conducted a survey on the coverage of the entire federation.
He also asked whether at anytime the INEC server was hacked.
On his part, Hon. Udem Ehinem asked NCC whether it was possible to create a platform for offline result pending when collation officer could upload when there’s network.
Also speaking, Hon Kingsley Chinda asked whether NigComSat was still w functional satellite and whether there’s any part of the country that the satellite could not cover.
He also asked about the type of communication network that could be used and how long it would take to fix any emerging problem.
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