State Of Emergency: No House Member Said Nay During Voting – Rep Dawodu

The House of Representatives member for Oshodi-Isolo 1 Constituency, Bashiru Dawodu, has said no member voiced nay during the ratification of Rivers state of emergency in the Green Chamber.

Naija News reported that some senators, including Aminu Tambuwal, Seriake Dickson and Ireti Kingibe condemned the use of voice votes in ratifiying President Bola Tinubu’s state of emergency in Rivers.

Also, Ikwuano/Umuahia federal constituency member, Obi Aguocha, condemned the use of voice votes in the ratification. The Labour Party House member, during plenary, specifically requested that Speaker Tajudeen Abbas allow for a headcount to ensure a quorum was formed.

In an interview with Arise News on Monday, Dawodu said every action the House took in ratifying the state of emergency and suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy and House of Assembly members were in line with the rules of the 10th House.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker, also commended President Tinubu for the action he took in the Rivers State crisis.

The Lagos House member added that had any House member said nay, during the voice votes, it could have made the House use another voting system.

His words: “All aspects of governance have their own modus of operandi, the judiciary, the executive, and the National Assembly. The National Assembly is governed by rules, and this is relevant, even in light of other issues that have happened recently. The traditional place, when you get elected, when you elect the speaker, there is another committee set up to design the rules that will govern the Assembly for the next four years. They are highly debated, sometimes controversial, and they are passed. Those are the rules that are going to operate. And I’m sure as a lawyer, you know, in Section 60, he gives the National Assembly the power to design the rules as it may fit.

“So this idea that all the time there has to be a headcount, it is not something that is done regularly. Every day we do voice votes. And by the way, in this particular situation, you mentioned the honorable that actually had an issue with the headcount. He was there, and he was addressed. The Speaker said at the end of the day, he was going to let us know the number of people that were present. And he told us that.

“So if you are now saying that you had 243 where 240 people were present, and a voice vote was made, and it was unanimous. I didn’t hear anybody say nay that was in that House on that day. So the issue of two-thirds may not be really germane if not one single person actually say nay. So that is my opinion in what you said.

“But beyond that, I think we have to look at the bigger picture. Why is this happening? And it’s really, it’s kind of sad, especially for the folks in Rivers. In democracy, the folks that voted, they wanted the government to function. They voted for the assembly. They voted for the governors. And by the way, they were all together before. And they are now facing a situation where the governor was distracted, almost entirely distracted. So they have not been well served.

“So rather than us looking at this situation with microscopic eyes, I think we need to look at the global picture. The global picture is that is the situation better now for the folks of Rivers. I say yes. Did the President do the right thing and did constitutional things? Absolutely yes. And that is something that we are going to follow up with. There are caveats there now. It is now for the politicals to get together and trying to find a political situation to this particular, what you are dealing with, so that you are not dragging the whole of Nigeria into this picture. So hopefully that is something that is going to happen soon.”