Reps Minority Leader, Gbajabiamila, apologises over row with Deputy Speaker

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The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Thursday, apologised to the House for accusing the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, of bias during the previous day’s plenary.

Mr. Gbajabiamila, who is also the leader of the All Progressive Congress Caucus in the lower legislative chamber, had on Wednesday said the APC lawmakers would no longer recognise Mr. Ihedioha as deputy speaker.

He accused Mr. Ihedioha, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, of bias in favour of his party instead of being the deputy speaker of the entire House. 

“What you saw today (Wednesday) is yet another indication of what the PDP has brought on our country,” he had said at a press conference after he led APC lawmakers to walk out of the chamber.

“We have a deputy speaker who has never hidden his ‎partisanship. He has always taken sides with the PDP, compared to the speaker (Tambuwal), who sees himself as the Speaker of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The House chamber had erupted in rowdiness following the manner Mr. Ihedioha, who was presiding, handled the motion on military deployment during the elections which lawmakers of both major parties held different views.

While the APC members backed the motion that soldiers should not be deployed during polls, their PDP colleagues stood against it on the grounds that it was a matter before the courts.

The APC lawmakers had walked out of the chamber in protest.

 However, at Thursday’s session, presided over by the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, Mr. Gbajabiamila withdrew his allegation against Mr. Ihedioha.

“I withdraw that‎ portion where I called him the deputy speaker of a political party,” he said. “We should be accommodating of each other as a House,” he told his colleagues.