Leon Usigbe, Umaru Henry and Tordue Salem
30 October 2007
Lagos — THE short but rancourous reign of Mrs. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh as Speaker of the House of Representatives ended yesterday when she and her deputy, Mr. Babangida Nguroje threw in the towel, following threat of impeachment by Reps opposed to them.
Moments before her resignation, she had stepped aside for the House to pick Mr. Tengu Tsegba (PDP-Benue) as Speaker pro-tempore to consider the Idoko Panel Report.
Workers and students, led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had earlier in the day staged a protest in Abuja to demand their resignation. Mrs. Etteh blamed journalists for her fate, but the Federal Government, the ruling PDP and the NLC welcomed her resignation.
In her resignation letter addressed to the Clerk of the House, the former Speaker said she took the decision after consulting with members of her family.
Her words: "Following the advice from my family members, friends and colleagues and for the interest of democracy and the Nigerian nation, I, Rt. Hon. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh hereby tender my letter of resignation as the Speaker, Federal House of Representatives with effect from Tuesday the 30th of October, 2007.
"I appreciate the concern and support of my colleagues while I was Speaker of the House."
The former Deputy Speaker said it was a matter of public knowledge that the events in the House of Representatives in the last few weeks since the breaking of the story on the award of the contract had affected the smooth operations of the House.
"In our collective commitment to find a lasting solution to this unfortunate development, it has become imperative for some of us to play the role of statesmen in the interest of our dear nation Nigeria. "Accordingly, I humbly tender my letter of resignation as the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives with immediate effect," he said.
But the resignations did not come easy as Mrs. Etteh initially resisted all entreaties for her to do so until a motion for her impeachment was moved by Mr. Kenneth Oguakwa from Enugu State and seconded by Mr. Igu Iguma from Rivers State.
She had come into the Chambers at 1.32 p.m. instead of the scheduled 10.00 a.m. for the commencement of proceedings. She apologised to the members, blaming her delay in coming on the caucus meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Similarly, she apologised for her abrupt adjournment of the House last week, which she said she regretted.
She remarked that she had always wanted peace to reign in the House but said that the way things had gone had made it impossible for the objective to be achieved.
According to her, she had thought that the death of Aminu Safana would help to smoothen things out in the Chambers but this was not to be.
Mrs. Etteh remarked that it was not her intention to preside over the deliberation of the Idoko Panel Report but insisted that she wanted due process to be followed as she observed that she did not want to be stampeded out of office.
Her remarks were followed by statements of objections from various members which led to a motion for her to step aside.
She was forced out of her seat through a vote of 255 against 33 for the emergence of Mr. Terngu Tsegba as Speaker Pro-Tempore.
The motion had been moved by the House Leader, Mr. Tunde Akogun for the suspension of House Rules to enable the House to consider the Idoko Panel Report. But the original motion was amended by the Minority Leader, Mr. Mohammed Ali Ndume to ensure that Mrs. Etteh stepped aside for the Clerk of the House to conduct the election of the Speaker Pro-Tempore. Once the motion was carried by the House, Mrs. Etteh invited the acting Clerk of the House, Mr. Niyi Ajiboye, to conduct the election.
Mr. George Ford Nwosu representing Rivers State nominated Mr. Tsegba for the opposition and was seconded by Binta Garba, while Mr. Mathew Omegara from Imo State nominated Mr. West Idahosa from Edo State for the pro-Etteh group and was seconded by Mr. Dino Melaye from Kogi State.
Mr. Beni Lar from Plateau State nominated Mr. Sada Soli from Katsina State for the pro-Etteh group too but was not seconded by anybody. Mr. Soli, however, withdrew his nomination citing "circumstances beyond his control."
The nomination of Mr. Tsegba was virtually approved unanimously and he was invited to the Speaker's chair with a loud applause to conduct the business of the House, while Mrs. Etteh assumed her seat among the floor members of the House.
As soon as he assumed his seat, the Speaker Pro-Tempore expressed gratitude to the members for finding him worthy for the post and recalled that the last few weeks had been terrible for the House, a situation, he observed caused people to think that the lawmakers were not capable of resolving their problems.
Mr. Tsegba commended President Umaru Yar'Adua for his tenacious hold on the principles of separation of powers on the House crisis.
He noted that the day provided an opportunity for the representatives "to redeem ourselves" and pledged to be fair and just in presiding over the business of the House as he called on members to allow the issue to be dispensed with quickly to put the issue finally behind.
At 2.35 p.m., the Speaker Pro-Tempore led the House into an executive session to determine the procedure for the regulation of the House while the debate on the Idoko Panel Report lasted.
When the sitting resumed plenary about 30 minutes later, Tsegba announced that the overwhelming view of members was that Mrs. Etteh and her deputy should resign because they could no longer preside over a divided House.
Mr. Oguakwa relied on Section 50 Sub-section 2C of the Constitution to move a motion for the removal of the Speaker from office.
The section says, "the President or Deputy of the Senate or the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives shall vacate his office ... if he is removed from office by a resolution of the Senate or of the House of Representatives as the case may be, by the votes of not less than two thirds majority of the members of that House."
He prayed in the motion for the Speaker to be removed from office on the grounds of "gross misconduct and incompetence," but Mr. Leo Ogor from Delta State moved another motion for the impeachment of the Speaker.
At this point, the Speaker Pro-Tempore observed that it had been brought to his notice by the Clerk of the House that the issue of removing the Speaker could only be done by a division of the House.
But before that could be done, Mr. Nguroje signalled at about 3.58 p.m. that he would resign drawing applause from members.
Two minutes later, Mrs. Etteh also signalled her intention to resign and was given the opportunity to draft and sign her resignation letter that was later read to the House by the Speaker Pro-Tempore.
Mr. Tsegba remarked after the resignation of the two principal officers that the action was the beginning of the process of reconciliation in the House of Representatives, saying that the resignation should serve as the basis for unity in the House.
He commended the former officers for their courage in resigning thereby preventing the House from engaging in a long drawn out consideration of the Idoko Panel Report.
As the former Speaker walked outside of the chambers at the end of the sitting, she was booed by the large crowd which had gathered at the lobby of the National Assembly against the loud cheers received by the Speaker Pro-Tempore.
Etteh blames Journalists
Mrs. Etteh emerging from a last minute peace meeting by the PDP to save her, blamed journalists for her fate.
She said: "I want to say that right from the onset, I have not been in the good book of the media, but I love you all. It is well. The media caused it all, I will speak in due course," she said as she left the venue of the meeting.
It's victory for democracy-YarAdua
President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua last night said the voluntary resignation of Mrs. Etteh and Mr. Nguroje was a victory for his efforts to entrench 'democratic norms and principles' in the country.
In a statement President Yar'Adua, who is on a one-week trip to Germany said he was vindicated by his insistence that "there is no political crisis that cannot be resolved through a democratically accountable process without extra legal interventions which can foster arbitrariness and disregard for due process and the rule of law."
Segun Adeniyi, the President's statement said "President Yar'Adua views the voluntary resignation of the Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh and her deputy, Alhaji Babangida Nguroje, as another triumph for the efforts to entrench democratic norms and principles in our polity. "President Yar'Adua also feels vindicated by his insistence that there is no political crisis that
cannot be resolved through a democratically accountable process without extra-legal interventions which can only foster arbitrariness and disregard for due process and the rule of law.
"Now that the crisis has come to a denouement, the President urges the members of the House of
Representatives to speedily put recent events behind them and rise to the challenge of performing the legislative duties for which they were elected.
"The President hopes that the entire nation has learnt useful lessons from the episode and that more Nigerians will now realize that it is always best to give our democratic institutions the fullest chance to grow to maturity through a transparent learning process anchored on the rule of law," he said.
The PDP also reacted, saying now that Mrs. Etteh and her deputy had resigned, the Reps would do the jobs for which they were elected.
Information Minister, John Odey reacting to Mrs. Etteh's resignation yesterday said: "The Federal Government welcomes the resignation of Mrs. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh and Alhaji Babangida Nguroje as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively.
On her part, the acting President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Ladi Iliya said: "We are happy that the House of Representatives has risen to the occasion by forcing Mrs. Etteh and her deputy to resign.
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