House of Representatives Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, yesterday stepped down as speaker ahead of his inauguration as Sokoto State governor on Friday. In his stead, his deputy, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, will act as speaker to complete Tambuwal’s tenure. Ihedioha will take over today to avoid a constitutional crisis.
Tambuwal told the House press corps in Abuja yesterday that the House would today resolve the matter by “empowering the deputy speaker”, to preside till a new speaker is elected for the eighth Assembly. The House is expected to suspend provisions of the 1999 Constitution and other relevant conventions, to effect the transfer of the powers to Ihedioha. Order II Rule 9 of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives (Eight edition) provides that “whenever a vacancy has occurred in the office of the speaker or deputy speaker during a session, the clerk shall report same to the House at its next sitting, and the House shall either forthwith, or at its next sitting, proceed to the election of a new speaker in the manner hereinbefore provided.”
The House rule, however, does not make provision for “acting speaker” but instead “speaker protempore”. The rule nevertheless envisages this scenario. Order VII Rule 26 provides that “in the absence of the speaker and deputy speaker without any communication to the clerk of the House within a period of three consecutive days or where both have either been certified incapacitated by the officer in charge of the medical department of the National Assembly, such member of the House as the House may elect for that purpose, shall preside, such member shall be known as speaker pro-tempore.”
This will be the first time an acting speaker will preside over the House since 1999. In 1999, when the first speaker of the Fourth Republic, Hon. Salisu Buhari, was forced to resign, his successor was elected immediately. Similarly, in 2007, when the first female speaker of the House, Hon. Patricia Etteh, also resigned, Hon. Terngu Tsegba, was elected as speaker pro-tempore before Hon. Dimeji Bankole was elected to take over as speaker. Many commentators have expressed fear over the likely constitutional crisis that may arise should Tambuwal leaves for Sokoto Government House on May 29. The House is expected to elect a substantive speaker for the eighth National Assembly in June.
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