Reps set to recall Melaye, other suspended lawmakers •As Speaker apologises to students

Written by Idowu Samuel, Abuja

MEMBERS of the House of Representatives, who are sympathetic to 11 of their colleagues, suspended for the rest of the legislative year, have commenced moves to recall them through a House pardon, the Nigerian Tribune has gathered.

Female members of the House, who initiated the move, have been lobbying their male counterparts to put pressure on the House leadership on the need to pardon Honourable Dino Melaye and other members of his group, who are currently serving a suspension imposed on them by the House.

The lawmakers are intervening because of the harsh political realities, staring the suspended lawmakers in the face, especially the possibility that they may not be able to seek re-election in the 2011 general poll.

Honourable Fatimat Raji Rasaki, who is the Vice Chairman, House Committee on Women Affairs, led the group of members of the House, pleading for the return of the suspended lawmakers, especially one of the female legislators, Honourable Doris Uboh, whom she said was manhandled by the sergeant-at-arms during the fracas that broke out on the floor of the House about two weeks ago.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, had, on Monday, alluded to this, when he raised the hope on the possible recall of the lawmakers.

Bankole had visited the City Royal Secondary School, Nyanya, Abuja, to apologise to students of the school, who witnessed the fracas in the House of Representatives, during their excursion and told correspondents that the issue of the suspended lawmakers was being reconsidered.

Moral Prefect of the school, David Sunday, had, in his opening remark during the Speaker’s visit, urged the House leadership to imbibe the spirit of humility as demonstrated by the speaker, who came to beg the students for forgiveness, urging members of the House to allow peace to reign and forgive the lawmakers who were suspended.

He said he believed that the visit of the speaker to the school would not be in vain, but would result in a peaceful atmosphere in the House by forgiving all the lawmakers who were suspended.

Honourable Bankole, while responding said, “it is a wonderful idea and we would consider it. Well, we are adults and we have the responsibility of managing ourselves and I can assure you that we will come up with amicable resolution.”

He told the students that the lawmakers were suspended for the crisis in the House because of their alleged failure to adhere strictly to the rules of the House, noting that the fracas in the House would have been averted had the affected legislators conducted themselves in an orderly manner and in line with the rules of the House and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which they swore to uphold.

He said: “I came to apologise to the students, who were in the House of Representatives on the particular day that we are talking about. I also want to use the opportunity to explain to you that there are laws in this country that are to be obeyed.

“All laws are to be obeyed and I believe that in your school here, you also have your own laws, whereby if you have complaints you can go and report to your teachers. You should never take the rules or the laws into your own hands, because when you do that it leads to chaos.

“On that particular day, I believe a few of our colleagues flouted the rules of the House, and actions were taken based on the rules of the House.”

He advised the students to always obey the rules of the school since, according to him, their failure to do so might predispose them to breaking the laws of the nation, when they got out of schools, and which might expose them to punishments.

He described a school as a learning ground, where corrections were made, stressing that there was no excuse that any of the suspended lawmakers could put up for their disorderly conduct before being suspended, having sworn to obey the constitution and the rules of the House.