ON Wednesday, the House of Representatives was caught in a turmoil impelled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the House. Some PDP Reps went wild over the announcement of Ndidi Elumelu as the minority leader.

The aggrieved members were simply acting the script of their national executive committee (EXCO), Governor Nyesom Wike and the immediate past Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara.

The preferred choice of the EXCO and Wike is Hon. Ogundu Kingsley Chinda from Rivers State. Although they made their choice known to the members, the majority felt that since the national chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, hails from the same state as Chinda, it is only fair that the minority leader comes from another state in the Southsouth.

Determined to have their way in the matter, both the EXCO and Wike reached out to Dogara, who assured them that he would prevail on the Reps to support Chinda’s candidacy. It turned out, however, that all the efforts he made in this regard were to no avail. The party nonetheless forwarded Chinda’s name to the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

Not ones to give up in the matter, the aggrieved PDP Reps came together and sent a letter to the Speaker, stating unequivocally that Elumelu was their choice for minority leader. The weight of the letter was underscored by the fact that it was signed by more than 90 of the 140 PDP members in the lower chamber. Among them were Reps who had stuck their necks out for the Speaker in the campaign for the exalted office.

The Speaker, of course, did their bidding and disregarded the letter from the PDP national EXCO. Enraged by the development, the members loyal to the EXCO threw the house into disarray.

For the second time, the PDP Reps called the bluff of Wike and the party. It will be recalled that Wike lambasted the lawmakers elected on the PDP platform for voting against the party’s preferred candidates in the election of principal officers of the National Assembly.

Credit : The Nations