ANOTHER round of crisis is brewing in the House of Representatives as some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) extraction in the Green Chamber have dragged the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and the Clerk of the House, Sani Omolori, before an Abuja High Court over the new standing orders of the lower chamber.

In the suit filed by their lawyer, Ahmed Bello Mahmud on December 14, 2015, the 11 lawmakers, led by Aliyu Sani Madaki (APC, Kano), are seeking, among others, nullification of the new Standing Orders and declaring them unconstitutional as, according to them, they contravene the constitution.

Specifically, the lawmakers are praying the court to restrain Speaker Dogara, the House or any of its agents from exercising “the purported amendments” vested in the new rules pending the determination of the matter.

They also prayed the court to declare as “repressive, susceptible to abuse and breaches” of their constitutional rights the powers granted the Speaker to present any proposal for the suspension of any member.

When The Guardian contacted the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas for reaction, he said he was not in the know of the matter, “and it will not be fair to comment on it since it is already in court.”
“I have not seen the court papers, but since the matter is in court, it will amount to contempt of court for me to say anything. All I can say is that the court should be allowed to do its work and determine the matter,” he said.