Members of the House of Representatives, Monday, started its
special plenary on fuel price hike on a rowdy note. The House of
Representatives chambers a few minutes ago was in chaos as members, split along
party lines, are debating the new deregulation of the oil sector and the
removal of oil subsidy that has led to the increase of the pump price of petrol
from N86.50 to N145 per liter.
At about 12.15p.m. immediately after prayers, the Speaker,
Yakubu Dogara, read the proceedings of the previous sitting and moved for the
admittance of Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, into
the chamber but the shouts of No! No! No rented the air. However, after the
Speaker finished his comment, allowing the leader to move the motion, there was
a resounding ‘nay’ from the opposition lawmakers, mostly members of Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, in rejection of the motion. Yakubu Dogara ignored the
strength of the ‘nay’ prayers by ruling in favour of the ‘ayes’ as the Majority
Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, quickly moved for the admittance of Dr. Kachikwu.
PDP lawmakers are said to be angry with their APC
counterparts for staging Occupy Nigeria protest in 2012 when the Goodluck
Jonathan led government attempted to remove the oil subsidy.
The Speaker eventually gave the Minority Leader the floor
and he immediately moved for a closed-door meeting.
No comments:
Post a Comment