House Halts Ugochinyere’s Minority Leader’s Bid, Bars First-term Lawmakers from Principal Offices
Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The aspiration of the member representing Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency in Imo State and to lead the minority caucus of the House of Representatives came to a halt on Wednesday when the green chamber barred first-term lawmakers from holding principal offices.
Last week, some opposition lawmakers nominated Ugochiyere for the minority leader’s position to succeed Kingsley Chinda, lawmaker representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency, who vacated the role after emerging as the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for Rivers State.
However, during plenary last Thursday, Deputy Spokesperson of the House and a member of the Labour Party (LP), Hon. Philip Agbese, denied endorsing the Action Peoples Party (APP) lawmaker to lead the minority caucus.
He alleged that his signature was forged on the document nominating Ugochinyere for the role.
But Ugochinyere dismissed his claim as an “outrageous lie” and subsequently released a video to back his claim that Agbese signed the document endorsing him for the position of minority leader.
Nevertheless, at the plenary on Wednesday, the House passed a resolution barring first time lawmakers from holding principal offices.
The House adopted the resolution following the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Babajimi Benson.
The resolution clarified Order 7, Rule 15 of the Standing Orders of the House.
Order 7, Rule 15 of the Standing Orders of the green chamber states that: “Only members with cognate legislative experience as members of the House of Representatives shall be eligible for appointment as principal officers of the house.”
Benson argued: “Global parliamentary best practices rule out first-term parliamentarians from holding principal offices and reserve principal offices for experienced legislators to promote institutional memory, deepen understanding of legislative processes, and enhance competence in constitutional interpretation and intergovernmental relations.”
He cited the Senate’s recent amendment to its rules restricting leadership positions to senators who have served at least two terms.
Benson stated: “The 10th Senate has recently specifically defined ‘cognate legislative experience’ to mean ‘senators who have completed at least one full four-year term’, adding that those with multiple previous terms must have served in the immediate past assembly.’
“There is a need to prioritise institutional memory, deepen parliamentary stability and continuity, build legislative experience, minimise avoidable turbulence and promote mature representation in the comity of international parliamentary associations.”
The House unanimously adopted the motion when the Speaker, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, put it to a voice vote.