By Adesuwa Tsan
The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Idris Wase, and a member of the House have engaged in a war of words over the decision of the former to unanimously stop a petition by a group of Tiv Diasporans on the acquisition of their ancestral land from being laid on the floor of the House.
The incident, which took place last week, started after the lawmaker representing Gwer East, Gwer West Federal Constituency, Mark Terseer Gbillah (Benue, PDP), sought the permission of the presiding officer, the Deputy Speaker, to present the petition for consideration by the relevant committee.
He explained that the petition was from the Mutual Union of the TIV in America against the Federal Government of Nigeria and the issue had to do with ‘’the ancestral land of the Tiv people that seem to have been possessed in recent times through various attacks.’’
The lawmaker said the displaced Tiv people were ‘’languishing in IDP camps till date without any intervention,’’ and added, ‘’With your kind permission, Mr. Speaker, I want to lay this petition before this honourable House.’’
In response, Wase asked, ‘’Did you say Tivs in America?’’ and Gbillah answered in the affirmatives. The Deputy Speaker then added, ‘’If they are in America, could they be interested party here? Do they really know what is going on?’’
From this point, a back and forth session ensued as the motive of the petition was questioned by the presiding officer who contended that it lacked merit because it was sent by Nigerians who live in America.
Not even an explanation from Gbillah that the petitioners, non-citizens of America, were stakeholders who have family members in Nigeria and as such, were abreast of happenings at home could sway Wase from his stand.
Instead, he told his colleague, ‘’Mr Gbillah, I don’t want to make a blanket statement concerning those who are in Diaspora. If this petition is coming from those who are within the country, I believe it has very good standing but coming from those living in America?’’….’’They are Nigerians but I do not know if you have dual citizenship…’’
He then proceeded to ask if the association under which the petition was being raised had been registered with ‘’the Corporate Affairs of Nigeria (Sic).’’
‘’Sorry,’’ a confused Gbillah quipped and upon a repetition by Wase, pointed out that the Nigerian Constitution, Section 40, does not stop any of us from freedom of association.’’
The Deputy Speaker, however, maintained that while he was not stopping freedom of association, he was not convinced that Nigerians who live in America could present a petition to the Nigerian House of Representatives. This was despite a reminder from Gbillah that ‘’this is not the first time we have presented petitions from those who are not resident in this country.’’
Sensing that he was on the losing end, the Benue lawmaker asked the presiding officer to allow for the relevant committee to look at the petition but Wase retorted, “No. First, when you read the clause says, ‘with the permission of the Speaker’. It means that the Speaker is convinced of the issues raised and locus standi of the facts.’’
Giving it another shot, Gbillah queried, ‘’Mr. Speaker, you know we have a Diaspora Department, even as a country, that handles issues with Nigerians in the Diaspora and we do not tell them that they are not resident in Nigeria. Abike Dabiri, a Rt. Hon of this House superintends over that and we handle the issues of Nigerians as long as they are Nigerian citizens even in Diaspora. So these are still Nigerian citizens with Nigerian passports who are sending a petition.’’
Wase replied that the functions of the Committee on Diaspora are nothing relevant to what he was presenting and subsequently declared, ‘’Please, I will not allow that petition to take place, I am not convinced of that petition, thank you.’’
While the exchange was going on, there were glances and murmurs among the lawmakers who watched the whole scene play out without interference, other than at the end when a voice of an unidentified lawmaker asked Mark Gbillah to ‘’be guided.’’