RIVERS REP WALKS OUT OF CHAMBER, ACCUSES DEPUTY SPEAKER OF DISCRIMINATION
By Sumayyah Olapade
A member of the House of Representatives, representing Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency, Rivers State, Cyril Hart, on Tuesday during plenary, walked out of the green chamber after accusing the Deputy Speaker of discriminating against new members during parliamentary debates.
Hart, a memberĀ of the Peoples Democratic Party, made the accusation just after the lawmaker for Borno State’s Damboa/Gwoza/Chibok Federal Constituency submitted a motion denouncing the recent suicide attacks that left casualties in the North-Eastern State.
Numerous politicians, including Idris Wase, the chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Babajimi Benson, the chairman of the Committee on Defence, and numerous more who were acknowledged to speak by Kalu, who presided over the plenary in absence of Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, participated in the debate on the motion.
Following the debate, Kalu was about to put the debate to a vote when Hart raise a point of order.
āYou do not give preference to first-timers. You donātā, Hart voiced out his frustration to the admiration of his colleagues, many of whom, applauded his intervention.
āVirtually all those who spoke are ranking members. This is what you always do. You need to allow first-timers to make their contributions,ā Hart added,
Responding, Kalu said, āThere is no discrimination in the parliament. I was also a first-timer at a time.”
Kalu stated that lawmakers are often acknowledged to speak based on their sitting arrangement, adding that they may be disregarded if someone is not in the designated row.
At this point, Hart staged a walkout from the chamber, complaining on his way out.