…House Avoids Debate on Use of Military During Polls

20 Feb 2015 Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal ……..Muhammad Bello in Abuja
 A pending court order urging the federal government to eschew deployment of military personnel during the upcoming elections on Thursday stalled the quest by the House of Representatives to debate the matter extensively. The House kicked against any attempt to extend the tenure of present political office holders beyond May 29, saying doing so will be tantamount to breaching the constitution. A Federal High Court in Sokoto had decided that the matter be set aside pending its ruling. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, appealed to colleagues to seek legal counsel on the matter instead of holding a debate on it, “since it is already in a court of competent jurisdiction.” Tambuwal who sustained the points of order raised by Hon. Karimi Sunday (PDP, Kogi) that the House cannot discuss the matter, noted that: ‘’In view of the sensitivity of this matter and the unfolding events in the country, I want us to take this matter very seriously. ‘’Therefore, I would urge that the Committees on Rules and Business, Justice and Judiciary meet on this matter and come back to advise the House on it by next week.” Sunday had cited order 9 rule (7) (5), which says the House cannot comment on any matter that’s pending in court and which in the opinion of the Speaker will prejudice the judicial outcome of same. A motion by the Minority Leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos) triggered the discussion. Gbajabiamila had wanted the House to halt what he called ‘’an unconstitutional deployment of military personnel for election purposes.’’ Femi, in his motion, prayed the House to set up an ad-hoc committee that would investigate the role played by the military personnel and any other person who featured in the issue of the audio tape on Ekiti State election and report to the House within four days. Meanwhile, spokesman of the lower chamber, Zakari Mohammed, explained that there is no provision in the 1999 Constitution that permits tenure elongation just because an individual wants it. “We owe this country a lot of duty. Tenure elongation is against good conscience and is not part of our constitution. We won’t accept that and won’t discuss any such thing.” On the Card Readers, Mohammed said it was high time Nigeria moved forward from analogue to digital in order to have things done easily, saying every well-meaning Nigerian should support the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in its efforts to have free, fair and credible polls. He said any argument against the use of Card Readers for the polls would not hold water as the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended, allows such. http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/-house-avoids-debate-on-use-of-military-during-polls/202247/