The national working committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has suspended Ndudi Elumelu and six other members of the house of representatives.
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The other lawmakers are Wole Oke; Lynda Ikpeazu; Anayo Edwin; Gideon Gwadi; Toby Okechukwu and Adekoya Abdul-Majid.
Their suspension was made known in a statement by Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the party.
The NWC had summoned the lawmakers on Thursday over the role they were alleged to have played in the minority leadership tussle of the lower legislative chamber of the national assembly.
According to the statement, the lawmakers’ action was an act of insubordination. They were ordered to proceed on a month suspension.
“The Party noted the roles played by the underlisted members which resulted in the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, reading another list for Minority Leadership of the House other than the list submitted to him by our party, the PDP,” the statement read.
“After preliminary examination by the NWC, it was evident that the roles played by the above-mentioned members, bordered on indiscipline, insubordination and disobedience of party directives contrary to Section 58 (1)(b)(c)(f)(h) of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017), which provides that:
“Subject to the provision of this Constitution, the Party shall have power to discipline any member who says or does anything likely to bring the party into disrepute, hatred or contempt; disobeys or neglects to carry out lawful directives of the party or any organ or officer of the party; engages in anti-party activities; or engages in any conduct likely to cause disaffection among members of the party or is likely to disrupt the peaceful, lawful and efficient conduct of the business of the party.
“Consequent upon this, the above-mentioned members of our party are hereby suspended for one month and this matter is hereby referred to the National Disciplinary Committee of our party, in keeping with Section 57(3) of the PDP Constitution.”
During Wednesday’s session, some lawmakers had exchanged blows over principal positions. The session got rowdy when Femi Gbajabiamila, the speaker, was about to announce minority principal officials.
Kingsley Chinda, a PDP lawmaker from Rivers, had said the leadership of his party had written to the speaker to inform him of its choice for the positions, asking Gbajabiamila to adopt the list sent by the PDP.
The opposition party had stated its preference for Chinda as minority leader, Chukwuka Onyema as deputy minority leader; Yakubu Barde, minority whip; and Muraina Ajibola, deputy minority whip. But Gbajabiamila said there were nine minority political parties and the PDP alone could not determine who led the minority.
He had moved to read a letter which he said was signed by 99 members of minority political parties on the leadership positions but some lawmakers left their seats and started struggling for the mace which led to a brawl.
The speaker eventually announced Elumelu as minority leader, Toby Okechukwu, deputy minority leader; Gideon Gwani, minority whip; and Adesegun Adekoya, deputy minority whip.
Mr Elumelu in a statement on Friday said, “I am surprised and shocked, that the National Working Committee of our great party, the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) can sit and take a decision without giving room for a fair hearing”.
However, Elumelu narrated that he had lost an aunt and left Abuja immediately after plenary in the House of Representatives on Thursday and travelled to Delta state.
Elumelu said, “Out of respect for the party, I interacted my Special Assistant to write to the party and request a new date. I would have expected that if the date, we suggested was not convenient for the party, they would have proposed another day when we could have appeared before them”.
The lawmaker surmised that he has great respect for the party and is ready to serve.
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