ABUJA-CHAIRMAN House Committee on Rules and Business, Albert Sam-Tsokwa has said that the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Party, APC, Lai Mohammed must have acted out of ignorance when he said the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha was biased in his ruling over the controversial $9.3million arms deal motion.Briefing House of Representatives correspondents at the weekend, Sam-Tsokwa said”it is glaring that the APC publicity secretary was not conversant with our House rules when he said the Deputy Speaker manipulated the proceedings on the motion bordering on the $9.3m arms deal in South Africa”.“The DS acted as a patriotic Nigerian as he considered the interest of Nigerians above any political lineage following our House standing Orders to the latter”.“The motion in question was an investigative one seeking investigation into the alleged arms deal in South Africa which does not need any debate as this might jeopardise the proposed investigation”.Vanguard recalls that in the wake of the arms deal, the matter came up in the form of a motion on the floor of the House last Tuesday, but Ihedioha, who presided over plenary that day, did not allow debate on the motion, citing ‘national security.’ He later called for a voice vote and majority of the lawmakers voted against it.This development did not go down well with some lawmakers, most of whom are of the opposition All Progressives Congress ,APC, who staged a walk out from the floor immediately Ihedioha ruled.The motion, sponsored by Deputy Minority Leader Abdulrahman Kawu Sulaiman,APC, Kano sought for a thorough investigation into the matter.But Tsokwa argued at the briefing that what Ihedioha did was in line with the relevant rules of the House, which do not allow debate on infrastructure related, security and investigative matters.He explained that “the House is precluded from discussing any issue that is pending in court. Our rules also say motions on infrastructure, security and investigation are not to be debated. The motion on $9.3 million seeks an investigation, so it shouldn’t, couldn’t and mustn’t have been debated. That was exactly what happened,” Tsokwa said.Tsokwa further stressed that “the mover wasn’t supposed to take it that day, because it wasn’t on the Order Paper. He insisted on taking it because he said he was away on Speaker’s errand. But any matter that is not on the Notice Paper can’t be included on the Order Paper. Some members were against taking the motion, but the Deputy Speaker allowed him.”The Taraba state lawmaker explained that going by parliamentary rules, if any member is not satisfied with a particular decision taken, such a member would call for the House to be divided based on the ‘ayes’ and the ‘nays,’ saying walking out was not appropriate.“The decision wasn’t taken on the basis of party. It wasn’t all APC members that voted against it and vice-versa. Let me use this medium to call on our leaders to stop making provocative statements that will tear this country apart. If you’re ignorant of how the House operates, I’ll advise that you keep your mouth shut,” he said. VANGUARD
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