Nafada accepts “progressives” court judgment

By Emmnauel Ogala

December 9, 2010 12:37AM

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


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